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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

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CONFERENCE  OF  BISHOPS 


OF  THE 


CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND  IN  CANADA 


AND  OF  THE 


PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


HELD  AT  THE 


PRO-CATHEDRAL,   WASHINGTON,   D.  C. 
IN  OCTOBER,   1903. 


NEW   YORK 

THOMAS   WHITTAKER 

PUBLISHER 


THE    MERSHON    COMPANY    PRESS 
RAHWAY     N.    J. 


*  v^. 


PREFACE. 

The  Papers  which  this  volume  contains  embrace,  with  a  single 
exception,  those  which  were  read  at  a  recent  Conference  of  the 
Bishops  of  the  Church  of  England  in  the  Western  Hemisphere,  and 
the  Bishops  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United 
States,  held  at  Washington,  D.  C,  in  October,  1903. 

The  subjects  of  which  they  treat,  and  the  sequence  in  which 
they  were  read,  will  be  indicated  in  the  Order  which,  in  this 
volume,  follows  this  note.  The  value  of  the  Papers  will  be  estimated, 
of  course,  by  such  judgment  as  the  reader  may  bring  to  them. 

But  whatever  that  may  be,  of  the  value  of  the  occasion  there 
can  be  no  doubt.  Not  infrequently,  for  well-nigh  a  century,  had 
individual  Bishops  of  the  Anglican  Communion  honored  the  Amer- 
ican Church,  and  especially  its  General  Conventions,  with  their 
presence,  and  almost  as  often  had  Bishops  from  the  United  States 
enjoyed  the  hospitality  of  their  Canadian  Brethren.  But  in  either 
case  the  visitor  was  only  a  guest,  and  the  larger  comity  of  two  Sister 
Communions  was,  at  the  best,  but  very  imperfectly  recognized. 

At  the  Conference  in  Washington,  Bishops  of  both  nationalities 
(from  first  to  last,  nearly  one  hundred  in  number)  sat  as  one  body, 
and  in  absolute  equality,  and  deliberated  concerning  the  gravest 
interests  and  largest  mission  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  among  men. 
Such  an  assemblage  had,  as  some  at  any  rate  who  participated  in  it 
believed,  a  prophetic  significance.  It  recognized  the  Oneness  of 
Christ's  Body,  of  whatever  race  or  lineage;  and  it  recognized  no 
less  what  Lamennais  long  ago  pointed  out — the  pre-eminent  com- 
petency of  the  Episcopal  Church,  as  not  standing  for  a  part,  but 
for  the  whole  of  the  primitive  deposit  of  the  Apostolic  Faith  and 
Order,  to  be  the  messenger  of  Jesus  Christ  to  men  in  this  twentieth 
century  and  on  the  American  Continents. 

The  publication  of  this  volume  was  intrusted,  as  to  a  committee 
appointed  by  the  whole  body  of  bishops,  to  the  undersigned. 

Henry  C.  Potter, 

Bishop  of  Neiv  Yorh,  Chairman. 

William  A.  Leonard, 

Bishop  of  Ohio. 
Alexander  Mackay-Smitii, 
Bishop  Coadjutor  of  Pennsylvania. 


SSW^'S 


CONTENTS. 

Sermon    at    the    Opening    Service  by  the  Bishop  of  Albany     .         1 

The   Relations  of  the   Several   Branches   of  the   Anglican   Com- 
munion in  America  to  One  Another. 

First  Paper  by  the  Bishop  of  Quebec     ....         8 
Second  Paper  by  the  Bishop  of  Massachusetts     .         .       13 

The  Attitude    of   our  Church   toward   Churches    Subject  to  the 
.Roman  Obedience. 

First  Paper  by  the  Bishop  of  Maryland         ...       19 
Second  Paper  by  the  Bishop  of  Porto  Eico     ...       24 

The  Development  of  Autonomous  Churches  in  Heathen  Lands. 

General  Paper  by  the  Bishop  of  New  Jersey        .         .        30 

The  Development  of  Uniat  Churches  in  our  own  Country. 

General  Paper  by  the  Bishop  of  Vermont     ...       36 

The  Attitude  of  our  Church  toward  the  Protestant  Communions 
around  Her. 

(a)    Points  of  Union  and  their  Emphasis. 

First  Paper  by  the  Bishop  of  Tennessee     ...       42 
Second  Paper  by  the  Bishop  Coadjutor  of  Montreal     .       53 

(&)    Points  of  Difference  and  their  Explanation. 
First  Paper  by  the  Bishop  of  Pittsburgh         .         .         61 
Second  Paper  by  the  Bishop  of  Niagara     ...       72 

Methods  of  the  Church's  Work  in  Evangelizing  the  Specially  De- 
pendent Races  in  America. 

(a)    The  Negro  Race. 

First  Paper  by  the  Bishop  of  Southern  Virginia         .       78 
Second  Paper  by  the  Bishop  of  Honduras         .         .       87 

(h)    The  Indian  Races. 
First  Paper  by  the  Bishop  of  North  Dakota       .         .       93 
Second  Paper  by  the  Bishop  of  Calgary     .         .         .     103 


YJ  CONTENTS. 

The  Obligation  of  the  Church  to  Maintain  the  Christian  Family  in 
its  Integrity. 

(a)    Divorce  and  Unlawful  Marriage. 

First  Paper  hv  llie  Bishop  of  Albany         .         •         •     107 
Second  Paper  by  the  Bishop  of  Toronto     .         .         .118 
(&)   The  Discharge  of  the  Parental  Obligation. 
First  Paper  by  the  Bishop  of  Missouri       .         .         .     123 
Second  Paper  by  the  Bishop  of  Huron       .         .         .     131 

The   Adaptation  of  the   Church's    Methods  to  the  Needs  of  the 
Twentieth  Century. 

{n)    To   Meet   Religious   Difficulties.     The  Lord's  Day  and 
Family  Worship. 

First  Paper  by  the  Bishop  of  New  Hampshire         .     136 
Second  Paper  by  the  Bishop  of  Nova  Scotia    .         .    142 

{h)    The   Inculcation   of  Political  and  Commercial  Morality 
and  the  Maintenance  of  High  Ideals. 

First  Paper  by  the  Bishop  of  New  York     .         .         .     150 
Second  Paper  by  the  Bishop  Coadjutor    of  Southern 
Ohio         .       ^ 156 

Sermon  at   the  Closing   Service   by  the  Bishop  of  Nova  Scotia      164 
Index  . 177 


PROCEEDINGS    OF    THE    ALL-AMERICAN 
EPISCOPAL  CONFERENCE. 


TUESDAY  MORNING. 

SERMON  AT  THE  OPENING  SERVICE. 

The  Right  Rev.  William  Croswell  Doane,  D.D.,  LL.D., 


BISHOP  OF  ALBANY. 


"They  were  .ill  with  one  accord  in  one  place." — Acts.  ii.  1. 
One  goes  back  to-day,  in  this  most  august  gathering,  to  a  far- 
off  tradition  and  a  nearer  memory;  the  nearer  lives,  I  am  quite 
sure,  with  fadeless  force,  in  the  minds  of  many  of  the  bishops  here, 
of  an  afternoon  in  the  great  hall  at  Lambeth,  when,  after  a  long 
session  of  earnest  thought  and  speech  about  missionary  work,  the 
great,  old  Archbishop  Temple  rose  from  his  chair,  and  held  us 
spellbound  with  words  that  were  winged  with  an  eagle  flight,  soar- 
ing to  a  true  heavenly  height  of  intense  earnestness  and  enthusi- 
asm. "  The  fire  kindled,  and  at  last  he  spake  with  his  tongue  " 
upon  the  question,  which  always  lay  nearest  to  his  big  heart,  the 
extension  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  on  earth.  It  was  in  a  larger 
and  wider  way  what  this  is,  the  gathering  of  bishops  from  the 
English-speaking  world.  There  were  men  there,  like  those  at 
Nicea,  marked  with  the  scars  of  their  sufferings  from  "  perils  by 
land,  and  perils  by  water,  and  perils  in  the  wilderness,  and  journey- 
ings  often  "  through  every  part  of  the  habitable  globe.  And  they 
were  all  of  one  accord  in  that  one  place,  from  which  they  went 
out,  stirred  with  a  new  energy  and  girded  for  more  enterprise,  by 
the  power  with  which  he  spake,  as  the  Spirit  gave  him  utterance. 

However  we  must  sorrow  that  we  shall  see  his  face  no  more,  I 
am  sure  that  the  echoes  of  his  voice  abide  with  us  still,  as  the  sea- 
shell  never  loses  the  rhythmic  resonance  of  the  rolling  waves.  It 
was  truly  an  "  upper  chamber,"  that  afternoon,  in  which  we  were 
gathered  together  with  one  accord,  with  one  mind. 

And  the  far-away  tradition  is  more  splendid  still.  The  almost 
natural  and  inevitable  interpretation,  it  seems  to  me,  of  that  upper 
chamber,  to  which  the  revisers,  I  am  glad  to  say,  have  restored  its 
definite  article,  is  that  it  was  the  guest  chamber  of  that  house  to 
which  the  two  disciples  were  directed,  and  in  which  they  prepared 
that  greatest  of  all  feasts,  when  the  dear  Lord  gathered  His  twelve 
apostles  on  the  night  in  which  one  of  them  betrayed  Him,  the  only 
one  that  was  not  of  one  mind  with  the  rest. 


2  SERMON    AT   THE    OPENING   SERVICE. 

Here,  St.  Luke  tells  us,  day  by  clay,  during  the  ten  expectation 
days,  they  gathered,  not  in  dull  and  inactive  patience,  much  less  m 
any  impatience  of  distrust  and  unbelief,  but  in  the  continuance  of 
constant  prayer  and  supplication:  not  the  twelve  only,  but  the 
blessed  ]\roth"er  of  our  Lord,  and  the  brethren. 

And  here,  Avhen  the  time  was  fully  come,  came  the  Pentecost, 
not  merelv  with  its  startling  tokens  of  power,  the  cleansing  wind 
and  kindling  tire;  not  merely  with  its  strange  sign  of  divers 
tongues,  but  with  its  far  greater  power,  its  far  more  important 
function,  and  its  far  wider  reaching  grace  of  inspiration  and 
adaptation. 

I  am  quite  sure  we  miss  the  mark  when  we  read  this  story  as 
though  it  were  an  act  of  cyclonic  violence,  or  as  though  the  miracle 
of  it  was  that  which  made  linguists  out  of  ignorant  Galileans, 
whether  for  all  their  lives  or  for  that  single  day.  It  seems  to  me 
a  more  marvelous  thing  that  their  tongue-tied  timWity  was  turned 
into  intense  and  irresistible  utterance,  and  their  souls  afire  with 
the  irrepressible  enthusiasm  of  missions,  :o  that  they  could  seek 
out  and  speak  to  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  first,  or  at  once, 
to  the  gathered  representatives  of  the  world-wide  dispersion,  and 
then,  beyond  that,  to  the  Gentiles,  to  whom  "  also  God  granted 
repentance  unto  life."  They  were  fitted  from  that  time  to  go  into 
all  nations  and  let  every  man  hear  "  in  the  tongue  in  which  he  was 
born  the  wonderful  works  of  God." 

Surely,  Bight  Keverend  Fathers  and  Brethren,  these  are  the 
fitting  thoughts  for  us  to-day,  the  lesson  that  we  need  to  learn, 
the  reason  for  our  gathering  here  from  every  part  of  this  great 
continent  of  America,  that  we  may  be  of  one  accord  in  this  one 
place,  and  get  what  God  will  give  us  in  answer  to  our  earnest 
prayer — first,  inspiration  for,  and  then  adaptation  to,  the  work 
which  God  has  given  us  to  do. 

I  feel  that  I  may  write  down  to-day  the  words  which  old  John 
Talbot,  one  of  the  first  missionaries  of  the  Venerable  Society  in 
this  country,  wrote  as  the  heading  of  the  parish  register  of  my  dear 
father's  old  St.  Mary's  Church  in  Burlington:  "  Laus  Deo  apud 
Americanos,"  for  we  are  all  Americans  here  to-day,  not  less  than 
we  are  all  Englishmen  everywhere.  All  Englishmen,  because  we 
come  from  the  same  mother  country,  and  speak  the  same  mother 
tongue,  and  all  Americans  because  the  United  States  are  only  of 
America,  even  though  sometimes  we  seem  to  think  thac  they  are 
all  America.  But  the  vast  continent  whose  shores  are  washed  by 
two  great  oceans  is  the  continent  of  America  not  more  in 
Florida  and  Washington  than  in  far-off  Athabaska  and  Eupert's 
Land. 

And  the  inspiration  is  of  one-mindedness.  It  would  be  a  shame 
to  speak  in  the  face  of  our  comparative  numerical  smallness,  with 
any  word  or  thought  of  boasting,  as  to  our  right  and  title  to  be 
or  to  be  called  the  American  Church.  But  unless  we  are  per- 
suaded in  our  own  minds  that  to  be  this  is  our  mission,  we  shall 


BISHOP    OF    ALBANY.  * 

come  short  of  what  has  been  given  us  to  do — to  possess  the  con- 
tinent for  Him. 

When  we  have  wasted  breath  in  boastfulness  of  our  heritage,  we 
have  spent  force  that  shoukl  have  been  used  in  other  ways.  When 
we  have  gloried  in  the  fact  of  the  absorption  into  our  communion, 
here  and  there,  of  Eoman  converts,  and  here  and  there,  of  those 
who  have  been  brought  up  in  the  other  Protestant  communions, 
we  have  deafened  our  ears  to  the  true  call  of  duty,  and  deluded 
our  minds  as  to  the  chief  object  of  our  ecclesiastical  existence. 

The  aim  and  effort  of  our  labors  and  our  prayers  should  be, 
first,  by  intensifying  our  own  oneness,  to  make  good  Christians, 
of  whatever  name,  of  one  mind  and  of  one  accord,  and  then  to 
take  our  place  in  a  strong  movement  to  reach  those  who  either 
never  have  confessed  the  name  of  Christ,  or  else  have  come  to 
deny  Him;  to  build  ourselves  up  on  our  most  holy  faith;  to  prove 
ourselves,  not  successors  in  office,  but  inheritors  of  the  spirit  of 
the  apostles;  to  manifest  the  power,  and  not  to  magnify  the  beauty 
of  our  liturgy;  to  confess  our  faith  not  merely  in  the  time-tested 
and  time-honored  symbols  of  it,  of  which  we  have  been  put  in 
trust,  but  to  live  it,  in  the  intense  earnestness  of  men  who  know 
themselves  His  children,  who  "  maketh  His  sun  to  rise  on  the 
just  and  the  unjust,"  and  His  servants,  Whose  love  knew  no 
limit  to  His  redeeming  sacrifice  but  the  human  race;  and  His 
temples.  Who  gave  Himself  freely  as  the  air  (which  is  the  type  of 
the  Holy  Spirit)  and  Whom  the  Father  giveth  to  all  them  that 
ask  Him. 

Somehow,  it  seems  to  me  that  Ave  are  belittling  ourselves  with 
too  much  dwelling  upon  small  things.  Within  and  among  our- 
selves there  is  grave  need  to  restrain  the  lawlessness  of  false  teach- 
ing, either  in  the  denial  of  the  Catholic  verities,  or  in  the  pro- 
claiming of  modern  errors  and  untruths.  Within  and  among 
ourselves  there  is  great  need  to  set  some  boundary  line  to  the 
individual  willfulness  of  ritual,  which,  with  the  true  spirit  of  the 
old  heresiarchs,  picks  out  what  it  thinks  pretty  here  and  there 
from  various  sources,  and  makes  as  many  uses  as  there  are  willful 
minds,  in  the  stead  of  the  dignified  uniformity  of  the  Church's 
standards. 

But  the  strength,  and  time,  and  voice,  and  printer's  ink  that 
are  expended  on  these  things  are  disproportionate  and  unworthy. 
The  self-consciousness  of  our  inherent  power,  spent  upon  the  self- 
conviction  of  our  tremendous  responsibility,  to  preach  the  Gospel, 
to  extend  the  Church,  to  convert  the  unlaeliever,  to  convict  the 
sinner,  to  convince  the  gainsayer  ought  to  overpower  us  with  the 
more  strenuous  love  of  men  filled  with  a  passion  such  as  possessed 
the  Master  with  a  very  "  travail  of  soul."  and  made  the  first  mis- 
sionaries of  the  Cross  carry  its  conquering  message  to  the  palace 
and  the  prison,  to  the  nearer  and  the  farther  borders  of  the  known 
world. 

The  great  growths  and  movements  in  the  world  and  in  nature 


SKUMON     AT     lino    «>ri:.NlN»)    SIOKVM'IC. 


mo  from  within  out.  mIimiI  and  slcatlv  and  .sccitM.  We  louiil  a 
lr«>(''s  «U(>  1)V  I  111*  riui^s.  wliii'li  luivt>  urown  imst>i'n  out  fi-oiii  the 
inmost  circle  lowiinl  I  lie  l»ark  which  stretches  itself  to  meet  and 
accoinniochitc  lhi>  :;i'o\\  1  h. 

Men  hiiihl  nialt>rial  ihiiiiis  from  the  outsi(h>  in.  (lod  works  the 
other  wav.  S|tiriliial  urowlli  comes  tlie  other  wav.  And  if.  as 
1  l)elie\e,  we  are  chari;ed  hy  (Jod  with  the  coincrsioii  of  lliis 
continent,  we  need  central  conc»Mit  lalcd  imil\  anion;;  ourselves 
lirsl.  and  far  more  than  wi>  nt^nl  ji^iiressive  attacks  upon  what  is 
apart  from  lis     one  iniiuh>dness  in  piirpos(>.  in  prayer,  in  sc^rvice. 

At  the  outs»>t  it  seiMiis  to  me  we  lack  tli(>  consciou^^iiess  (d'  our 
own  Catholicity.  It  is  a  Catholicity  which  wc  i>nly  won  1>\  the 
])rotesi  of  the  lud'oniial  u'li.  and  it  is  a  ("atholicily  which  netMl 
not  he  ashamed  o\'  the  name  and  cannol  discont  iniu>  the  insisltMice 
of  its  protest,  llic  wilncss  /'(»;•  truth  m  the  lirsl  and  host  use  of 
the  word,  and  the  witness  (iijdinst  I'rror. 

\V(>  have  a  comimm  Catholicity  with  the  I. aim  and  tlit>  l'!astt>ni 
Churches,  plus  our  rcjeclion  of  tluur  additions  t.>  tht>  old  f.ailh 
and  (U'dcr.  And  we  lia\e  a  common  I'rotestant  isui  with  tlu>  i;r(>at 
refoniii'd  ridiyious  communions,  plus  i'.n  unhrtduMi  hold  in  cretvl 
and  litiirjiv  and  ord(>r  iiptui  the  primiti\c  apostolic  Church.  We 
arc  III  touch  with  hoili.      We  cannot    1h>  c(Miriis(>d  with  cither. 

I  llmik  I  iiia\  use  Ihc  (juoled  words  that  follow  in  this  presi'uce 
wilhoul  llic  need  o(  c\phiiniii;;  that  tlic\  refer  \o  the  ('hurell, 
not  III  or  of  I'lnj^laiid  only,  hut  that  tlu'y  Jipply  to  wh»M"(>V(M*  that 
Church  has  spread,  and  so  to  our  own  n;itional  Church  as  well. 

In  111"'  meniorandum  agreed  upon  at  a  meeting"  of  i'lei\u:y  held  in 
l,oiid(Mi  in  IS;tS.  jiiid  signed  hy  viM'y  conspicuous  and  represeiita 
ti\e  men.  this  stat«Muent  is  made,  which  is  as  important  as  it  is 
true:  '"  The  immediale  .-luthority  with  whitdi  as  Mii<;lish  churcli- 
liieii  we  h;i\e  to  do  is  |h;it  cd"  the  I'ln^lish  (.'liiireli.  not  that  of  the 
lumiaii  or  the  (iallican.  (U-  any  oIIkm-  Church."  To  whi(li  Canon 
Newholt  adds:  "  Tli(>  Mnulish  Cliurch  \.>iccs  to  us  I  he  Calluilie 
Church,  appeals  to  us  in  cl(>ar  tones,  tunphasi/ino'  ,i  deliiiite  [losi- 
litm.  claims  to  lia\c  made  such  alterations  as  were  iuadt>.  with  a 
<'crtaiii  end  in  \  iew  ,  with  h(«r  eye  on  tht>  priinitiv(>  Church,  and 
with  a  deterininatiou  t.i  preserve  all  laii.l:ihlc  praclii'Cs  of  the 
w  hole  Catholic  Church." 

I  lia\e  no  desire  to  imilale  ihe  jirowiii:;-  assert  iv(MU>ss  of  the 
loMiiaii  Cntholi,'  Chureh  in  tins  eouulrv.  I  do  think  it  is  time 
'"  ■"^'''  "I'  '"  I'I'iiii  •I'l'l  "P''"  \i''\^  'l>«'  hrc.'ikwater  o\'  (Uir  position 
Jiji'iiinst  th,'  (uireiii  ,.!'  a.  (piiesceiicc  in  their  claims,  naimdy.  tlu> 
fact  th:it  wc  an'  ;iii  Apostolic  ('hiiivli  With  ihe  (Uil\  liiuMiov  that 
van  make  us  such  frimi  Ihe  whole  .olle-.c  o\'  apostles,  which  »'er- 
'•'""'>  '^  '"'^''"i  "I'  a  tru(>r  Catholicity  limn  thai  which  claims— 
1  tliiiik  wilhoul  Ihe  power  to  pro\e  it  desi'ciil  froni  one  apostlo 
1111(1   I  roin  a  sin-^lc  see. 

T«>  the  nian  who  says.  "  I  ;,,,,  ..f  Ccphns."  we  do  md  sav.  "  1  am 
of  r;iul."  11, u-  .lo  wc  sa\    in  any  arro-ant   c\clusi\  ,micss.  '•  I   am  of 


JUSlKjr    <>K    AI.JiANV. 


OhriHt,"  Sooking  no  quarrel,  and  in  no  spirit  of  controversy,  it  is 
not  wiso  or  right  to  sit  still  in  oalin  and  quiet  indifference  while 
the  carelessness  of  a  sensational  j)ress  and  the  partisansliip  of  un- 
scrupulous politicians  yiehl,  not  assent  to,  hut  acquiescence  in, 
the  increasing  assumptions  of  the  representatives  of  the  Church 
of  Itonie;  hecause  thoughtless  and  ignorant  people  take  for 
granted  that,  })eing  uncontradicted,  they  are  accepted  hy  people 
who  do  some  thinking  and  know  the  facts. 

Witli  the  one-minded  strength  of  consciousness  in  our  own 
position,  we  must  stand  in  our  lot  until  the  time  comes  when  what 
yet  remains  of  unperverted  truth  and  unlost  grace  shall  have 
the  power  to  throw  off  the  incrustations  of  a  falsified  history,  a 
corrupted  faith,  and.  wherever  that  Church  has  unrestrained  con- 
trol, a  contaminated  morality.  Surely,  it  must  he  more  a  prayer 
and  a  desire  than  a  vain  dream  that  all  there  is  of  splendid  power 
and  possil)ility  in  this  great  and  ancient  portion  of  Christendom 
may  one  day  he  delivered  from  the  bondage  of  corruption,  to 
exercise  a  righteous  authority  and  a  pure  religious  influence  upon 
the  great  masses  of  people  who  yield  allegiance  to  it,  even  in  its 
present  estate. 

I  believe  the  truest  exercise  of  conscious  Catholicity  will  be 
found  in  the  recognition  of  all  that  we  hold  in  common  of  truth 
with  those  from  whom  we  dilTer  because  they  have  either  added 
to  or  given  up  some  part  of  the  deposit  of  primitive  truth  and 
a})Ostolic  order. 

■  Kven  if  there  were  reason  to  hold  the  childish  theory  that  we 
could  win  in  or  wipe  out  the  sectarianism  of  Protestant  separa- 
tions by  joining  forces  with  Home,  it  must  be  remembered  that 
]{ome  repudiates  such  overtures  with  scorn.  So  that,  as  matters 
are  now,  there  seems  to  me  far  more  hope  of  restored  union  as 
we  count,  and  cherish,  and  cultivate  the  points  of  unity  which 
other  religious  bodies  as  well  as  ourselves  recognize  alike. 

Somehow,  if  the  reunion  of  Christendom,  organic  and  visible, 
is  to  be  accomplished,  it  seems  to  me  this  Church  must  be  the 
medium  of  overture  and  the  means  of  its  attainment.  To  win 
]*rotestantism  to  Catholicity  and  to  win  Catholicism  from 
Latinity,  we  need  more  and  more  consciousness  of  our  providen- 
tial j)Osition,  and  the  cultivation  among  ourselves  of  this  one- 
mindedness  which  was  the  characteristic  of  the  early  apostolic 
Church,  and  wliicli  brought  down  ilw  llolv  (Ihost  from  heaven. 

The  other  IVntecostal  gift  of  adajilalion  is  our  second  great 
need.  It  seems  to  me,  perhaps,  the  greatest  glory  of  our  liturgy 
and  of  our  ancient  confessions  of  faith,  that  they  have  avoided 
hide-bound,  hard  and  fast  insistence  upon  definitions  and  details. 
'Inhere  is  a  flexibility  in  them,  which,  while  it  holds  fast  the  essen- 
tial truths  and  the  fundanuintal  principles,  leaves  freedom  both 
in  their  statement  and  their  ai)plication.  r.,ike  the  seasoned  wood 
of  an  archer's  bow,  they  bend  without  breaking,  that  they  may 
give  greater  momentum  to  the  strung  arrow. 


6  SERMON    AT    THE    OPENING    SEKVICE. 

Certain  fixed  facts  there  are  of  the  kind  of  dogma  which  is 
historic  and  the  kind  of  history  which  is  dogmatic,  which  are 
changeless  as  the  everlasting  hills.  The  personality  of  the  triune 
God;  the  incarnation  of  the  Son,  the  virgin-born  and  the  con- 
substantial  with  the  Father;  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  God;  and  then 
the  summary  of  the  revealed  and  recorded  acts  and  events  in  our 
Lord's  human  life  from  His  nativity  to  His  ascension;  and  then, 
the  corollaries  of  these— the  visible  Church,  the  authority  of 
Scripture,  the  grace  of  the  Sacraments,  the  Eesurrection  of  the 
Body,  and  the  Life  Everlasting.  But  there  is  no  attempt  to 
define  the  manner  and  the  method  of  God's  working,  no  definition 
of  inspiration,  no  metaphysics  of  sacramental  grace,  no  insistence 
upon  the  manner  of  resurrection,  no  infusion  of  logic  into  the- 
ology, no  man-made  explanations  of  the  mystery  of  faith,  no 
limiting  horizons  between  what  we  call  nature  and  what  lies 
beyond  what  is  called  nature. 

if  one  might  make  a  modern  application  of  the  wonderful 
Pentecostal  gift  of  varied  tongues,  they  seem  to  me  to  mean  that 
we  can  bring  to  the  ear  of  the  scientist  to  the  ear  of  the  archaeolo- 
gist, to  the  ear  of  the  so-called  higher  critic,  to  the  ear  of  the 
materialist,  our  simple  statement  of  the  fundamental  principles 
of  Christianity  in  the  language  to  which  they  are  wonted,  not  in 
antagonism,  but  in  adaptation  to  their  one-eyed  view  of  truth, 
as  containing  all  that  there  is  of  truth  in  what  they  hold,  rounded 
out  into  the  fullness  and  completeness  which  contains  not  only 
all  their  holdings,  but  all  that  is  true  beyond  these;  and  either 
crowds  out  their  mistakes  or  corrects  or  contradicts  them.  Most 
falsehoods  are  half-truths  asserted  with  an  expressed  or  an  im- 
plied denial  of  the  other  half.  And  Tennyson  was  not  far  wrong 
in  saying  "  The  half  of  a  truth  is  the  blackest  of  lies."  Surely, 
if  St.  Paul  could  see  a  religion  which  he  recognized,  and  to  which 
he  could  adapt  his  teaching,  in  the  innumerable  altars  of  Athens, 
and  in  the  pagan  poetry  of  Aratus,  we  can  go,  not  in  antagonism, 
but  in  anticipation  of  a  starting  point  of  agreement,  to  any  phase 
or  form  of  error  or  imperfect  truth,  and  pick  out  that  in  it  which 
is  true — and  there  is  truth  in  every  crudest  belief — and  take  that 
as  the  dialect  of  the  language  which  we  speak  and  hold  in  com- 
mon with  them,  and  develop  it  into  the  full  utterance  of  "the 
wonderful  works  of  God"  into  the  declaration  of  Him  "whom 
ignorantly  they  worship." 

There  are  difficult  problems  to  be  solved  in  the  various  direc- 
tions of  service  to  which  we  are  called.  It  is  impossible  to  close 
our  ears  to  the  plea  which  comes  to  us  from  such  countries  as 
Mexico  and  Brazil,  or  with  even  a  closer  claim  of  duty  from  the 
Philippine  Islands.  But  such  fair  and  gracious  lines  of  policv 
as  our  own  Bishop  in  IManila  has  outlined  are  far  more  along 
the  line  of  Christian  work  than  a  crusade  which  takes  the  form 
of  making  proselytes. 

And  while  I  believe  we  are  called  upon  to  present  the  Catholic- 


BISHOP    OF    ALBANY.  7 

ity  of  this  Church  in  what  we  think  its  fullest  form  wherever 
the  opportunity  offers,  I  am  quite  sure  that  some  comity  of  under- 
standing ought  to  be  established  among  the  Christian  churches 
which  may  avoid  the  presentation,  to  the  unbelieving  heathen, 
of  divided  and  contradictory  systems  of  Christianity.  One  great 
end  to  be  sought  is  to  convert  the  heathen  to  Christ,  and  not 
to  Protestant  Episcopalianize  rather  than  to  allow  somebody  else 
to  Presbyterianize  a  Malay  or  a  Zulu. 

The  earnest  contention  for  the  faith  "  once  for  all  delivered 
to  the  saints  "  need  not  certainly  confine  itself  to  the  denun- 
ciation of  others  or  to  the  denial  of  errors.  Polemic  con- 
troversy is  a  dangerous  w^eapon  in  human  hands.  There  is  a 
gaudium  certaminis  which  gets  possession  of  us.  Nobody  has 
failed  to  feel  it.  It  carries  us  away  into  violence  and  vitu- 
peration, into  bitterness  and  anger,  and  bv  and  by  the  con- 
test becomes  a  personal  struggle  for  individual  or  denom- 
inational victory.  Our  Protestant  position,  rightly  interpreted, 
fulfills  itself  far  more.  I  think,  as  we  are  witnesses  for  the  truth 
than  as  we  are  witnesses  against  error.  "  Building  ourselves 
up  on  our  most  holy  faith  and  praying  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  keep- 
ing ourselves  in  the  love  of  God  and  looking  for  the  mercy  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  unto  eternal  life,"  is  St.  Jude's  counsel  to  men, 
whom  he  exhorts  to  deal  with  those  that  separate  themselves,  or, 
as  the  revisers  put  it,  "  those  who  make  separations." 

So  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter  seems  to  me  that, 
whether  we  are  considering  the  best  method  of  preparing  our- 
selves to  do  our  duty  in  the  place  where  God  has  set  us,  or 
whether  we  are  considering  the  possibility  of  promoting  deeper 
and  more  real  union  among  those  who  "  profess  and  call  them- 
selves Christians,"  or  whether  we  are  considering  how  we  may 
best  help  on  the  petition  of  our  constant  Litany  that  "  it  may 
please  God  to  bring  into  the  way  of  truth  all  such  as  have  erred 
and  are  deceived,"  or  whether  we  are  striving  to  bring  the  knowl- 
edge of  Jesus  Christ  to  those  from  whom,  so  far,  that  knowl- 
edge has  been  withheld  by  our  faint-heartedness,  our  selfishness, 
our  separations — in  all  these  issues  and  events,  it  seem?  to  me 
the  one  conclusion  is,  and  the  one  object  of  care,  that  we  should 
pray  God  to  make  us  all  of  one  mind,  to  keep  us  all  together  in 
the  one  place  of  duty,  and  in  that  one  mind  and  that  one  place 
to  "  continue  steadfastly  in  prayer  and  supplications  "  that  "  the 
God  of  all  grace.  Who  brought  again  from  the  dead  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  may  make  us  perfect  in  every  good  work  to  do  His 
will." 


ANGLICAN  COMMUNION  IN  AMERICA. 


TUESDAY  MOENING. 

I'irst  Topic. 

THE    EELATIONS    OF    THE    SEVEEAL    BEANCHES    OF 

THE  ANGLICAN    COMMUNION    IN    AMEEICA 

TO  ONE  ANOTHER 

First  Paper. 

The  Right  Rev.  A.  Hunter  Dunn,  D.D  , 

BISHOP  OF  QUFBEC. 

To  be  permitted,  Mr.  President,  my  Eight  Eeverend  Brethren, 
to  participate  ever  so  slightly  in  this,  the  first  formal  Conference 
of  the  responsible  Overseers  "of  the  Churches  of  the  United  States 
and  Canada  and  the  West  Indies,  is  indeed  a  very  high  privilege 
as  well  as  a  most  holy  joy. 

When  a  year  ago  von,  Mr.  President,  speaking  as  a  member  ot 
the  Delecrates  of  the  Church  of  the  United  States  of  America  m 
the  Upper  House  of  the  General  Synod  of  the  Canadian  Church 
at  its  third  session  in  the  city  of  Montreal,  first  introduced  to  us 
this  question  of  an  All-American  Conference,  and  suggested  that 
surelv  there  were  Church  problems  calling  for  solution  more  par- 
ticularly on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  and  when  you  stated,  more- 
over, that,  in  all  probability,  our  thus  meeting  together  in  Con- 
ference would  be  likely,  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  Pan- Anglican 
Conference  at  Lambeth,  to  bear  valuable  fruit,  I  well  remember 
how  strongly  and  deeply  your  words  struck  a  chord  within  my 
inmost  soul,  and  how  it  came  home  to  me  at  once  that  this  was 
a  really  great  idea — an  idea  fraught  with  the  mightiest  possible 
consequences.  And  therefore  I  determined  at  once,  if  I  should 
receive  an  invitation,  that,  please  God,  I  would  accept  it  and  do 
my  verv^  best  to  come.  And  while  I  heartily  thank  Almighty 
God  that  He  permits  me  to  be  here,  I  also  earnestly  pray  that 
we  may  be  so  assisted  and  directed  by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  Grace, 
that  our  Conference  shall  bear  the  glorious  fruit  of  inestimable 
blessing,  henceforth  and  for  evermore. 

And  now  with  regard  to  the  particular  subject  upon  which  I 
have  been  asked  to  read  this  paper;  its  title  is  as  follows :  "  The 
Eelations  of  the  Several  Branches  of  the  Anglican  Church  in 
America  to  One  Another."  I  have  been  asked  to  bring  to  your 
attention  that  part  of  the  subject  which  relates  (1)  to  clerg}''  and 


BISHOP  OF  QUEBEC.  9* 

(2)  to  candidates  for  holy  orders,  leaving  it,  I  presume,  to  mj 
Eight  Eeverend  Brother  the  Bishop  of  Massachusetts  to  deal  with 
the  subject  in  its  other  aspects. 

But  before  I  come  to  this,  my  own  part  of  the  subject,  you 
will,  I  trust,  permit  me  to  say  how  deeply  thankful  I  am  that  the 
general  relations  between  your  great  Church  in  the  United  States 
and  our  OMai  Church  in  Canada  are  so  thoroughly  helpful  and 
cordial  as  they  are,  and  as  they  have  ever  been.  At  any  rate, 
I  can  speak  for  ourselves,  and  say  with  confidence,  that  we  have- 
been  immensely  helped  and  strengthened  by  your  clelegations,  by 
your  literature,  as  well  as  by  the  grand  stand  you  have  taken? 
in  great  questions  as  they  have  arisen,  and  the  progress  you 
have  made  from  year  to  year.  I  can  never  forget,  e.  g.,  the  very 
great  assistance  rendered  to  us  by  the  Bishop  of  New  York, 
when  he  came  up  in  1893,  very  soon  after  the  opening  of  my 
Episcopate,  to  take  a  prominent  part  in  the  celebration  of  the 
centenary  of  our  old  Diocese  of  Quebec.  Neither  can  I  ever 
thank  my  neighbor,  the  Bishop  of  Vermont,  sufficiently  for  the- 
peculiar  assistance  which  he  has  rendered  to  us  both  at  Bishop's 
University,  Lennoxville,  and  also  in  Quebec  City,  as  regards  what 
we  may  well  call  the  devotional  side  of  our  Church  life.  At  the 
sessions  of  our  Provincial  and  General  Synods,  moreover,  the- 
delegations  of  the  American  Church  have  always  been  of  great 
service;  and  of  these,  that  which  came  to  us  last  fall  in  Montreal, 
and  which  has  led  to  our  Conference  here  to-day,  will  not,  I  feel 
convinced,  prove  to  be  the  least  important.  And  in  compiling  our 
Canadian  Appendix  to  our  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  my  good 
brother  the  Bishop  of  Fredericton,  to  whom  amongst  us  it 
rightly  fell  to  make  the  first  draft  of  that  Appendix,  sets  forth  in 
a  prefatory  note  that  "great  use  has  been  made  of  the  Book 
of  Common  Prayer,  according  to  the  use  of  the  Church  in  the 
United  States  of  America."  And,  no  doubt,  in  framing  the- 
canons  of  our  comparatively  young  and  new  General  Synod,  your 
canons  will  be  to  us  in  certain  respects  a  very  great  guide  and 
advantage.  It  is,  moreover,  certainly  wise  and  good  that  our 
regulations  and  our  services  should  be,  as  far  as  possible,  similar 
or  even  identical,  for  thus  we  shall  be  better  able  to  labor  on 
both  sides  of  the  line  for  our  mutual  health  and  strength. 

But  I  am  digressing,  and  I  must  now  therefore  say  no  more 
concerning  our  general  relations,  but  must  keep  myself  entirely 
to  the  matter  in  hand.  And  first  of  all  I  will  try  to  say  some- 
thing concerning  the  regulations,  under  which  clergymen  should 
pass  from  us  to  you,  and,  vice  versa,  from  you  to  us.  In  Eng- 
land, as  we  all  know,  the  conditions  are  entirely  difiierent  from 
ours.  There  no  man  can  be  ordained,  unless  some  rector  or  vicar 
approaches  the  bishop  and  offers  to  the  man  what  is  technically 
called  a  title  for  holy  orders — offers,  in  other  words,  to  take  the- 
man  as  his  assistant  during  his  diaconate  and  during  his  first 
year  in  priest's  orders,  and  further  agrees  to  find  for  his  assistant 


10  ANGLICAN    COMMUNION    IN    AMERICA. 

a  sufficient  stipend;  and  there  no  man  may  leave  his  first  curacy 
until  this  period  of  two  years'  apprenticeship  has  expired,  and 
this  '•  old-countrv  '*  system  is  no  doubt— so  far— very  salutary 
indeed,  for  it  causes  that  a  man  cannot  become  a  rector  in  sole 
charcre'  until,  as  an  assistant,  he  has  had  some  experience  of  a 
cler^'man's  work.  But  once  this  period  has  expired,  neither 
the  bishop  nor  the  diocese  has  any  further  responsibility,  but  the 
curate  mav  either  stav  on  where  he  is,  if  it  is  mutually  agreeable 
to  his  incumbent  and  himself,  or  he  must  seek  for  himself,  by 
advertisement  or  otherwise,  another  curacy,  unless  indeed  some 
patron  happens  to  offer  him  a  sole  charge;  for  there  is  hardly 
such  a  thing  in  England  as  the  extending  to  a  man  by  a  congre- 
<ration  of  what,  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  is  described  as  a 
call.  Hence  it  is  evident  that  the  clergy  in  England  who  hold 
no  appointment  are  merely  a  body  of  men  in  holy  orders  who 
owe  no  special  allegiance  to  any  one  bishop  and  are  not  specially 
attached  to  any  diocese,  and  this  is  a  system  which  I  think_  we 
can  none  of  us  commend,  or  desire  to  see  imitated.  In  the  United 
States,  the  bishop  ordains,  I  believe,  with  the  approval  of  the 
Standing  Committee  of  his  diocese,  and  in  Canada  we  ordain 
men  without  restriction  as  we  need  them;  and  on  both  sides  of 
the  line  a  clergyman  has  what  we  may  call  diocesan  rights,  and 
he  is,  moreover,"^ counted  as  a  man  of  good  standing  in  his  diocese 
and  as  still  having  his  diocesan  rights  until  he  is  proved  to  be 
iinworthy  of  his  position,  or  until  his  bishop  has  given  to  some 
other  bishop  in  his  behalf  a  Bene  Decessit,  and  until  this  Bene 
Decessit  has  been  acknowledged  and  accepted  in  writing  by  the 
bishop  of  the  diocese  to  which  the  clergyman  is  being  transferred. 
All  that  ive  have  to  do  therefore  in  the  case  in  which  clerg}'men 
desire  to  serve  in  a  diocese  across  the  line  is  to  see  that  we  will 
none  of  us  ever  license  or  institute  a  man  until  we  are  satisfied, 
after  making  the  fullest  inquiry  from  those  who  know  him,  that 
all  is  as  it  should  be,  and  until  we  have  received  and  accepted 
in  writing  his  Betu  Decessit  from  his  former  bishop.  And  we 
ought  also,  I  think,  to  take  care,  supposing  any  clergyman  in 
our  diocese  is  proved  to  be  unworthy  of  his  position  as  a  priest 
of  the  Church  of  God,  to  forward  his  name  to  the  archbishop  of 
our  ecclesiastical  province  or  to  our  chief  or  senior  bishop,  beg- 
ging that  he  will  notify  all  other  archbishops  and  chief  or  senior 
bishops,  so  that  they  in  turn  may  warn  the  bishops  of  their 
provinces  or  churches,  and  thus  prevent  the  offender's  appoint- 
ment anvwhere  else  within  the  borders  of  the  Anglican  Church 
with  a  view  to  avoiding  all  further  hurt  or  scandal.  This  need  not 
preclude  the  opportunity  for  repentance,  and,  after  a  sufficient 
probation,  a  re-admission  to  the  exercise  of  the  functions  of  the 
sacred  ministry,  with  due  notice  given  throughout  the  Anglican 
Communion,  as  in  the  case  of  the  offender's"  deprivation  or  in- 
hibition. There  may  of  course  be  cases  in  which  a  man's  use- 
fulness in  a  given  diocese  is  gone,  and  yet,  his  repentance  being 


BISHOP  OF  QUEBEC.  11 

sincere,  it  may  be  well  that  he  shall  have  a  further  opportunity 
elsewhere;  but  even  in  such  cases  it  would  be  right,  I  think,  to 
bring  to  the  knowledge  of  the  bishop  to  whose  diocese  such  a 
clergyman  is  moving,  in  a  general  way  what  has  occurred,  so 
that  he  may  be  put  upon  his  guard,  and  also  have  the  option 
of  refusing  to  receive  the  man,  if  he  feels  that  it  would  be  better 
for  him  to  do  so. 

And  now  I  have  also  a  few^words  to  add  with  regard  to  our 
accepting   from   across    the    line   lay-readers    or   candidates    for 
holy  orders.     You  may  not  all  be  aware,  my  Eight  Eeverend 
Brethren,  that  we  have  in  the  Diocese  of  Quebec,  only  a  few  miles 
beyond  the  line,  the  University  of  Bishop's  College,  Lennoxville, 
where  we  receive  students  first  for  their  arts'  course  of  three  years, 
and,  later,  for  a  further  two  years'  course,  during  which  they  are 
specially  prepared  for  one  of  the  learned  professions.  And  of  those 
who  are  proposing  to  take  holy  orders,  those  who  really  need  it 
receive  during  the  whole  of  their  five  years'  course  substantial 
exhibitions  from  certain  missionary  societies  in  England  on  the 
simple  conditions  that  they  shall   take  their  whole  course  con- 
tinuously and  complete  it,  and  shall  then  serve,  if  they  are  needed, 
for  as  many  years  in  the  king's  dominions  as  they  have  received 
their  exhibition.     Xow,  during  their  course,  from  the  end  of  the 
first  year  onward,  these  men  get  a  good  deal  of  practical  experi- 
ence by  being  sent  out  under  supervision  into  our  parishes  to 
act  as  lay-readers,  and  now  and  then,  in  order  to  widen  their 
experience,  some  of  them  have  accepted  work  during  their  sum- 
mer vacations  across  the  line.     x\nd  occasionally  it  has  happened 
that,  so  soon  as  a  man,  after  three  years'  residence,  has  taken 
his  B.  A.   degree,  and  before  he  has  entered  upon  his  divinity 
course,  in  spite  of  his  agreement  to  go  on  for  two  more  years 
and  then  to  work  if  needed  in  a  Canadian  diocese,  he  has  written 
to  us  to  say  he  cannot  return  to  college,  for  he  has  obtained  work 
across  the  line  and  will  before  long  be  ordained  deacon.     Now, 
again  and  again,  we  have  gladly  released  graduates  in  order  to 
allow  them  to  take  their  clivinity  course  in  England  or  at  the 
theological  seminary  in  New  York  or  elsewhere,  provided  always 
that   they   have   promised   to    return   later   and   help   us   in   the 
Canadian  Church.     My  object,  therefore,  in  naming  this  matter 
to-day  is  not  of  necessity  to  hold  a  man  to  his  agreement  at  our 
own  university,  if  it  would  be  good  for  him  and  for  the  Church 
that  he  should  make  a  change  and  go  elsewhere,  but  my  object 
is  this,  viz. :    to  prevent  a  man  from  being  admitted  even  to 
deacon's  orders  until  he  has  completed  his  theological  as  well  as 
his  arts'  course;  for  we  all  know  that,  once  we  enter  upon  clerical 
life,  once  we  have  sermons  to  prepare,  and  visits  to  pay,  and 
other  duties  to  perform,  it  is  impossible  to  give  our  full  strength 
to  reading  as  we  did,  or  as  we  could,  while  we  were  at  college. 
I  only  name,  in  fact,  our  own  particular  instance,  because  I  hap- 
pen to  know  it.  and  I  should  be  just  as  eager  that  a  course  entered 


12  ANGLICAN  COMMUNION  IN  AMERICA. 

upon  at  Xew  York,  or  elsewhere  in  the  United  States,  should 
be  fully  completed  before  a  man  was  permitted  to  be  called  away 
to  give  a  large  share  of  his  time  and  energy  to  clerical  life  in 
Canada.  For  my  general  experience  is  that  what  is  lost  in  this 
way  is  seldom  or  never  afterwards  regained,  and,  although  I 
freely  admit  that  archdeacons  and  others  under  whom  these 
deacons  serve  give  them  many  valuable  hints,  and  afford  them 
much  real  help,  still  I  believe  it  would  have  been  much  better 
for  these  men  if  their  .ordination  had  been  deferred.  For  these 
are  days  in  which  the  laity  read  magazine  articles  and  book 
reviews,  and  thus  they  have  such  a  knowledge  of  w^hat  is  going- 
on  in  the  critical,  theological,  and  historical  world  that  the  clergy 
really  need. to  be  much  better  read  and  much  more  fully  trained 
than"  was  absolutely  necessary  a  few  years  ago. 

I  do  not  know  whether  it  is  expected  that  at  this  Conference 
we  should  come  to  any  definite  conclusions,  or  pass  any  definite 
resolutions;  but,  if  it"  is  in  any  way  possible,  I  hope'  we  may 
come,  at  any  rate,  to  some  common  understanding.  As  to  the 
transfer  of  clergy,  in  fact,  I  trust  we  may  be  able  to  recommend 
to  our  synods,  or  conventions,  that  no  clergyman  from  Canada 
may  take  permanent  charge  in  any  diocese  in  the  United  States, 
and,  vice  versa,  that  no  clerg}^man  from  the  United  States  may 
take  permanent  charge  in  any  diocese  in  Canada,  until  the  bishop 
of  the  diocese  receiving  such  clergyman  has  received  a  Bene 
Decessit  in  writing. 

And  I  trust  we  shall  also  be  able  to  agree  that  in  cases  of 
temporary'  duty,  the  -clergj^man  shall  always  obtain  the  written 
permission  or  license  of  the  bishop  of  the  diocese  in  which  this 
temporary  duty  is  to  be  taken. 

Further,  I  hope  we  may  agree  to  be  careful  in  notifying- 
offenders  either  to  our  chief  bishop  with  a  view  to  his  general 
action  throughout  the  Anglican  Church,  or,  in  slighter  cases,  to- 
the  bishop  of  the  diocese  whither  the  ofl'ender  is  going,  with  a 
view  to  making  a  new  start  in  a  new  field,  in  order  that  the 
bishop  may  have  the  option  of  refusing  to  receive  him. 

And  lastly,  as  to  lay-readers,  etc.,  I  trust  we  shall  be  able  to 
agree  to  recommend  that,  before  accepting  any  candidate  for 
holy  orders, 

(a)  Every  bishop  shall  expect  to  receive  a  recommendation 
from  the  man's  parish  priest,  countersigned  by  the  bishop  or  the 
archdeacon  of  the  diocese  in  which  he  has  been  residing. 

(h)  In  all  cases  in  which  a  lay-reader  has  been  a  student  at 
a  university  or  college,  every  bishop  shall  in  addition  expect  to 
receive  the  testamur  of  that  university  or  college. 

With  such  an  understanding,  safeguarded  by  the  use  of  similar 
forms  in  all  like  cases,  I  believe  we  might  do  much  towards 
avoiding  offenses,  and  also  very  much  towards  securing  better 
equipped  men  for  that  which  is  certainly  the  highest  of  all  call- 
ings in  the  whole  world. 


BISHOP  OF  MASSACHUSETTS.         *  13 


First  Tojnc. 

THE  EELATION  OF  THE  SEVEEAL  BEANCHES  OF  THE 

ANGLICAN  COMMUNION  IN  AMEEICA  TO 

ONE  ANOTHEE. 

Second  Paper. 

The  Right  Rev.   Wilmam  Lawrence,  D.D  , 
bishop  ok  massachusetts. 

The  Bishop  of  Qiiehec  has  presented  so  clearly  his  treatment 
of  the  subject  as  it  relates  to  the  transfer  of  clergy  and  candi- 
dates that  there  is  little  left  for  me  to  say  on  these  points. 

The  diocesan  relation  of  each  and  every  clergyman  to  which 
the  churches  in  this  country  and  Canada  are  committed  is,  though 
attended  with  some  inconveniences,  essential  to  the  well-being 
and  discipline. of  the  ministry.  Every  clergyman  of  the  Church 
has  his  canonical  home,  his  bishop  and  father  in  God.  No  clergy- 
man can  so  loosen  the  ties  as  to  become  an  irresponsible  rover, 
free  from  discipline  or  official  recognition. 

The  one  point  in  this  connection  that  I  want  to  emphasize — 
and  it  is  a  point  upon  which  I  believe  the  Bishop  of  Quebec  is 
agreed — is  that  every  clergyman  of  each  branch  of  the  Anglican 
Communion  should  be  under  such  direct  episcopal  or  diocesan 
jurisdiction  as  to  make  him  immediately  amenable  to  the  proper 
authority.  Thus,  a  clerg\anan  of  this  Church,  who  in  Canada 
should  be  guilty  of  any  offense  against  ecclesiastical  order  or 
morals,  should,  upon  complaint,  be  immediately  brought  to  book 
by  his  bishop  or  the  canonical  diocesan  authorities;  and  the  same 
should  hold  in  relation  to  a  clergyman  of  any  branch  of  the 
Anglican  Church  in  this  country. 

Similar  conditions  may  be  wise,  too,  in  relation  to  candidates 
for  the  ministry;  though  I  feel  that  a  law  higher  than  that  of 
the  canons  —  that  of  Christian  courtesy  —  would  guide  our 
bishops  in  the  few  instances  that  might  arise. 

What  is  of  the  greatest  moment  is  that  we  should  deal  frankly 
with  each  other,  especially  in  those  personal  questions  connected 
with  the  transfer  of  clergy. 

The  subject  having  been  thus  fully  dealt  with  from  this  prac- 
tical point  of  view,  I  shall  follow  out  a  suggestion  of  the  Bishop 
of  Quebec,  made  to  me  by  letter  a  few  days  ago,  and  take  up  the 
subject  in  its  more  general  aspect. 

Each  branch  of  the  Anglican  Communion  in  America  is 
autonomous  and  must  remain  so.  Distinct  as  we  are  in  admin- 
istration, we  are  bound  together  in  a  common  faith  and 
order.  Working  under  many  similar  conditions,  we  are  in  the 
midst  of  opportunities  unique,  I  believe,  in  the  history  of  the 
Church. 


14  ANGLICAN  COMMUNION  IN  AMERICA. 

What,  then,  I  want  to  emphasize  is  the  attitude  that  we 
should  have  towards  each  other,  the  attitude  of  intelligent  sym- 
pathy. 

I  trust  that  I  may  be  pardoned  for  confining  what  I  have  to 
say  to  the  Anglican  churches  in  the  United  States  and  in  Canada. 
For,  while  the  other  churches  represented  in  this  Conference 
have  much  in  common  with  these  two  and  much  that  may  be 
said  will  bear  upon  all,  there  are  such  varied  local  conditions 
among  them  as  to  demand  fuller  explanation  than  can  be  given 
in  a  short  paper. 

Let  us  first  remind  ourselves  of  a  few  of  the  conditions  and 
opportunities  before  us. 

The  continent  covered  by  the  organization  of  these  two 
churches  is  in  size  and  wealth  immense.  We  of  the  United 
States  may  have  risen  to  some  appreciation  of  the  size  of  our 
country;  most  of  us  have  no  realization  of  the  acreage  of  the 
greater  country  of  Canada  and  of  its  natural  resources. 

The  population  of  these  two  countries  is  also  immense. 

There  have  been — and  are — countries  of  larger  populations  and 
perhaps  of  equal  natural  resources,  but  there  has  never  been  such 
a  continent  inhabited  by  such  a  people  as  will  fill  this  land  by 
the  end  of  the  century. 

For  from  all  parts  of  Europe,  and  even  from  the  East,  the 
eye  and  hope  of  the  youth,  the  alert  and  enterprising,  the  intelli- 
gent and  strong,  have  looked  to  America.  Here  they  have  come, 
are  coming,  and  will  continue  to  come. 

The  Christian  Church  had  never  such  an  opportunity,  never 
such  a  call  to  meet  intelligence  and  high  character,  to  mold 
material  powers  by  spiritual  forces. 

Again,  this  is  a  land  without  traditions,  free;  here  each  and 
every  man  may  experiment  in  thought  and  faith  almost  as  he 
will. 

In  Europe  the  finer  elements  of  modern  civilization  have  to 
struggle  up  and  through  a  hard  crust  of  tradition,  sometimes 
suppressed  for  generations,  then  breaking  through  with  cruel 
violence.  Here  fresh  thought,  new  conceptions  of  life,  and  other 
elements  of  modern  cvilization  express  themselves  with  freedom, 
free  as  the  air. 

Error  of  course  has  its  chance.  So  has  the  truth,  and  as  we 
have  full  confidence  in  the  truth  and  its  final  victory,  we  have 
great  hope.  In  fact,  hopefulness  is  the  characteristic  of  the 
American  people;  hope  of  the  final  triumph  of  Christ  and  His 
truth,  the  characteristic  of  American  Christians. 

Of  reverence,  as  it  is  expressed  in  countries  of  ancient  civiliza- 
tion, there  is  little;  a  meagre  reverence  for  tradition  and  age; 
there  is,  however,  a  reverence  very  real  and  deep  for  truth,  for 
character,  for  God.  Whatever  and  whoever  is  proved  worthy 
of  reverence  is  revered. 

From  people  so  conditioned  have  come  great  experiments: 


BISHOP  OF  MASSACHUSETTS.  19 

Democracy,  the  equality  of  every  man  before  the  law,  universal 
suffrage,  the  people  their  own  sovereign. 

Then,  in  complete  separation  of  State  from  Church  and  Church 
from  State,  there  has  been  withdrawn  from  the  Church  the  sup- 
port given  by  its  association  with  the  national  life,  its  social 
prestige,  and  financial  aid. 

Thus  has  been  given  to  the  Church  far  greater  opportunity 
in  its  spiritual  freedom,  its  sense  of  responsibility,  and  its  self- 
government. 

From  these  conditions  have  been  born  innumerable  sects,  the 
springing  into  notice  of  doubts,  heresies,  half-beliefs,  and  errors, 
which  were  in  the  people's  minds,  but,  under  the  old  regime, 
had  no  opportunity  of  expression.  There  has  been  a  clear- 
ing of  the  atmosphere,  and  men  speak  and  worship  as  they 
believe. 

At  the  same  time,  the  universal  education  of  the  people  has 
been  accepted,  an  education  by  the  State,  and  with  no  direct 
religious  influence  or  teaching, — a  system  at  which  the  Church 
of  England  stands  aghast. 

Upon  the  Church  and  the  home  has  been  thrown  the  respon- 
sibility for  the  spiritual  culture  of  the  children. 

Stimulated  by  this  popular  education,  many  new  problems  have 
appeared  for  solution.  Every  man,  woman,  and  child  would 
have  a  reason  for  the  faith  that  is  in  him,  and  a  reasonable 
reason. 

The  questions  of  the  sanctity  of  life  and  of  marriage  have  come 
up  for  answer:  the  meaning  of  the  family.  The  nations  of 
Europe  most  lax  in  morals  are  able  to  point  the  finger  of  scorn 
at  our  frequency  of  divorce.  And  yet  we  believe  that  our  people 
are  pure,  as  pure  as  any  people. 

May  not  this  anomaly  of  laxity  of  morals  and  no  divorce  in 
some  countries  and  comparative  purity  with  frequency  of  divorce 
cause  us  to  study  carefully  the  sociological  conditions  before  we 
draw  rash  conclusions?  May  not  divorce  be  simply  the  recog- 
nized and  legal  expression  of  sin  that  has  been  prevalent  in  all 
history?  Legislation,  even  ecclesiastical,  may  be  but  a  plaster 
over  a  sore;  a  wise  surgeon  looks  deeper  than  the  surface.  May 
it  not  be  wise  for  the  Church,  instead  of  concentrating  so  much 
of  her  thought  and  time  upon  the  Canon  on  divorce,  to  turn 
her  attention  to  the  causes  beneath?  to  study  more  attentively 
the  home,  the  moral  education  of  children,  parental  influence, 
and  the  relation  of  disease  to  sin? 

In  the  presence  of  these  conditions,  and  in  the  midst  of  the 
people,  the  Anglican  Church  stands,  formed  from  the  people. 
That  the  branches  of  that  Church  may  meet  these  problems 
requires,  I  say,  mutual  and  intelligent  sympathy. 

'We  of  the  Anglican  Church  have  in  this  northern  half  of  this 
hemisphere  a  great  vantage  ground. 

We  believe  that  we  have  the  apostolic  faith  and  order.     Other 


16  ANGLICAN  COMMUNION  IN  AMERICA. 

churches  believe  that  they  have  them  too.  We  have,  however, 
these  vantage-points  which  belong  to  no  other : 

The  base  of  Western  civilization  is  English:  the  English 
lan^niage,  English  common  law,  English  tradition,  and,  in  most 
parts,  English  stock.  At  those  points  where  France  and  Spain 
once  were,  English  traditions  are  prevailing. 

The  Anglican  Church  is  the  church  of  the  English  people. 
The  traditions,  temper,  thought,  law,  and  worship  of  Church 
and  people  are  inextricably  interwoven. 

Never  did  Christian  churches  have  fairer  opportunity  than 
has  the  Anglican  Communion  on  this  continent  at  the  opening 
of  the  twentieth  century. 

To  her  opportunities  the  Church  has  in  some  part  responded. 
She  has  yielded  up  many  customs  and  traditions  which  ham- 
pered her  in  the  past.  She  has  gladly  thrown  off  her  organic 
relations  with  the  State.  In  the  spirit  of  the  early  apostolic 
democracy  she  has  taken  laymen  into  her  councils,  and  the  people 
elect  their  pastors  as  people  and  priests  elect  those  who  are  to 
be  consecrated  their  chief  pastors.  One  cannot  but  smile  as  he 
hears  in  England  the  debates  and  tentative  questions  upon  this 
experiment.  It  is  no  longer  an  experiment :  it  is  a  tried  insti- 
tution which  the  Church  will,  we  believe,  never  let  go. 

The  Church  has  assumed  again  the  responsibility  for  the 
education  of  the  young — at  least  in  theory.  How  far  short  of 
her  duty  she  falls  in  practice  is  for  us  to  consider.  The  educa- 
tion of  the  children  in  the  faith  and  Christian  life  is  one  of  the 
great  questions  upon'  which  each  branch  of  the  Anglican  Com- 
munion needs  the  help  and  counsel  of  the  others. 

In  elasticity  of  thought  and  ritual  too  the  churches  have 
responded  to  the  needs  of  an  alert,  many-sided  people.  We  are 
fortunately  rather  free  from  the  partisan  shibboleths  of  an  older 
country.  The  question  may  well  be  considered  by  the  various 
branches  of  our  Church,  whether,  while  sustaining  a  general  wise 
conservatism,  we  cannot  meet  the  varied  needs  of  the  people  of 
such  an  immense  country,  reaching  from  the  Arctic  to  the  tropic 
circles,  with  greater  elasticity  of  ritual  and  administration. 

The  churches  have  responded  to  an  educated  people  by  stand- 
ing for  an  educated  ministry. 

There  may  be  parts  of  the  country  where  an  uneducated  min- 
istry may  do  effective  and  noble  work.  Let  it,  however,  be 
frankly  recognized  as  uneducated  and  not  allowed  to  take  the 
place  and  work  in  which  educated  men  are  required;  and  we 
must  be  careful  that  the  word  educated  be  not  interchangeable 
with  academic— there  is  danger  on  that  side.  The  question  of 
education  for  the  ministry  of  the  Anglican  Communion  is  one  to 
which  we  need  to  give  our  best  intelligence  and  in  which  we 
may  gain  mutual  and  helpful  advice. 

I^  believe  that  our  English  traditions  and  the  close  rela- 
tion in  the  old  country  of  the   ministrv   with  letters   and   the 


BISHOP  OF  MASSACHUSETTS.  17 

universities,  together  with  our  American  habit  of  thought,  give 
us  an  exceptional  opportunity  to  work  out  a  superior  system 
of  theological  education. 

An  experience  of  some  years  as  the  head  of  a  theological  school 
and  a  teacher  of  theological  students  leads  me  to  think  that  we 
"have  some  traditions  still  to  break  and  much  to  learn  before  we 
reach  a  really  excellent  system. 

May  I  take  the  time  to  illustrate  one  point? 

To-day  one-quarter  of  the  time  of  our  theological  students  is 
given  to  the  study  of  the  rudiments  of  a  language,  a  study 
which  in  itself  is  of  no  use  to  them  mentally  or  spiritually,  and 
which  is  dropped  by  nine-tenths  of  them  as  soon  as  they  enter 
the  ministrv. 

When  the  first  Bishop  of  Massachusetts,  as  a  youth,  graduated 
from  Harvard  College,  he  selected  for  the  subject  of  his  grad- 
uation thesis,  "  Will  the  blessed  in  the  future  world  after  the  last 
Judgment  make  use  of  articulate  speech,  and  will  that  be 
Hebrew?"  His  answer  is  not  recorded,  but  the  thesis  suggests 
the  prominence  of  the  study  of  Hebrew  in  that  day. 

With  the  change  in  methods  of  Biblical  interpretation  from 
the  exegetical  to  the  historical,  with  the  publications  of  English 
interpreters,  is  it  not  well  that  one-fourth  of  the  valuable  time 
of  preparation  be  given  by  a  good  fraction  of  our  candidates  to 
studies  more  helpful  to  the  intellectual  and  spiritual  life  of  them- 
selves and  to  their  future  life  as  priests,  prophets,  and  pastors? 
Will  it  not  be  to  the  advantage  of  the  future  pastor  if  a  good 
fraction  of  our  candidates,  released  from  the  irksome  task  of 
Hebrew,  give  their  time  to  other  studies  bearing  more  directly 
upon  their  future  work  in  the  practical  ministry? 

Will  it  not  be  to  the  advantage  of  sacred  scholarship,  reverence 
for  the  Scriptures,  and  the  real  knowledge  of  Hebrew,  to  make  it 
a  serious  study  to  which  those  who  are  of  scholarly  intention,  or 
Avho  have  a  real  interest  in  the  work,  may  apply  themselves? 

Pardon  this  digression,  but  I  believe,  my  brethren,  that  we, 
of  different  branches  of  Christ's  Church,  need  each  other's  counsel 
on  these  points. 

From  our  American  religious  thought  must  spring,  too,  a  theo- 
logical literature  which  has  an  American  temper  and  emphasis, 
an  attitude  adapted  to  our  American  character,  full  of  hope  and 
of  intellectual  courage,  sympathetic  with  human  interests,  mystic 
as  America  is  mvstic,  practical  as  America  is  practical. 

The  student  of  God  in  the  light  and  darkness  of  the  Arctic 
2one  has  something  to  tell  us  which  no  German  or  English  theo- 
logian has  felt  and  thought. 

Moreover,  our  people  of  the  next  century  will  be  a  racial  con- 
glomerate, as  in  fact  the  English  people  are.  The  constituents 
of  that  conglomerate  will  each  bring  their  contribution  to  the 
theological  thought  of  the  Church.  We  have  a  basis  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  and  of  Scandinavian  too;  we  are  to  feel  the  influence  of 


18  ANGLICAN  COMMUNION  IN  AMERICA. 

Italy  and  Poland,  of  Eussia  and  France.  From  the  East  across 
Europe,  Persia,  and  Armenia,  and  from  the  East  across  the 
Pacific,  Japan,  and  China,  our  thought  is  to  be  affected  as  our 
art  is  already  touched.  How  are  we  to  transmute  characteristics 
associated  with  Confucius  and  Buddha  into  Christian  terms? 

The  relation  of  the  several  branches  of  the  Anglican  Com- 
munion in  America  must  be  that  of  intelligent  sympathy,  if 
together  they  are  to  face  and  work  out  these  and  other  great 
problems. 


BISHOP  OF   MARYLAND.  19 


WEDNESDAY  MOENING. 

Second  Topic. 

THE  ATTITUDE  OF  OUR  CHURCH  TOWARD  CHURCHES 
SUBJECT  TO  THE  ROMAN  OBEDIENCE. 

First  Paper. 

The  Right  Rev.  William  Paret,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

BISHOP  OF    MARYLAND. 

I  have  been  asked  to  speak  upon  "  the  Attitude  of  our  Church 
towards  the  Churches  of  the  Roman  Obedience."  And  by  "  atti- 
tude "  I  suppose  is  meant  the  disposition  or  action  which  we 
ought  to  adopt  towards  them.  Behind  or  below  that  question 
lies  a  great  preliminary  question  of  historic  and  ecclesiastical 
fact  or  truth.  I  mean  the  actual  relation  between  the  English 
Church  and  the  Eoman  Church;  the  difference:  the  things  which 
separate  them. 

We  generally  speak  of  three  Churches,  the  Eastern  or  Greek, 
the  Eoman,  and  the  English,  as  the  three  great  branches  of  what 
was  once  the  undivided  Holy  Catholic  Church.  Of  the  causes 
and  the  history  of  the  separation,  I  need  not  speak.  Those  who 
hear  me  are  fully  familiar  with  those  points.  The  rightfulness 
or  the  wrongfulness  of  the  separation  between  Eome  and  "our- 
selves is  not  now  a  matter  for  argument.  When  Eome  created 
the  schism  by  her  own  act  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  it 
ceased  to  be  matter  for  argument,  and  became  a  reality.  It  re- 
mains to  this  day  the  same,  save  as  the  separation  has  been,  I 
think,  made  deeper  and  wider  by  further  action  of  Eome.  But 
notwithstanding  weaknesses,  errors,  and  faults  more  grievous 
in  each  of  the  three  great  branches  of  it,  each  claims  to  be,  not 
the  Catholic  Church,  but  a  legitimate  branch  of  it,  as  holding  a 
valid  succession  in  the  ministry,  sacraments  valid  in  all  things 
essential,  and  (even  though  they  may  be  overlaid  by  additions, 
or  perverted  by  misinterpretation),  the  essential  truths  of  the 
faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints.  I  give  this  as  a  view  generally 
accepted;  that  the  grand  trunk,  once  without  flaw  or  fissure, 
has  been  cleft  into  three  great  divisions;  but  the  cleaving  has  not 
reached  the  root.  And  from  the  common  root,  each  branch, 
however  separate  from  the  others,  continues  to  have  its  part  in 
the  divine  life.  If  we  accept  this  view,  that,  even  in  the  most 
corrupt  of  the  three,  corruption  has  not  destroyed  life,  but  only 
impaired  it,  then  the  problem  of  Christian  unity  for  them  will 
differ  greatly  from  the  like  problem  with  regard  to  the  many 
merely  Protestant  sects  of  later  years.  With  regard  to  these  last, 
there  is  grave  question,  to  say  the  least,  as  to  the  validity  of  their 


^Q  THE  ROMAN  OBEDIENCE. 

ministry  and  sacraments,  and  their  right,  as  organized  bodies, 
to  part' in  the  Catholic  identity  of  the  Church.  Between  Greek, 
l^onian   and  Anglican,  from  our  point  of  view,  there  is  no  doubt. 

What  then  is,  or  should  he,  the  attitude  of  these  three  great 
Tjranch^s  toward  each  other?  their  disposition?  their  behavior? 
And  especiallv,  what  is   the   right   attitude   for   our   Church   to 
hold  towards  "those  who  obey  Rome?     Looking  back  to  my  own 
«arly  days,  I  remember  well  how  almost  all  who  counted  them- 
selves emphatically  Churchmen  recognized  a  work  now  largely 
foro-otten,  ''Palmer  on  the  Church,"  as  one  of  the  best  human 
autborities,  and  accepted  the  principles  of  Church  unity  as  there 
clearly  set  forth.     On  those  principles  it  was  understood  that  m 
'  any  country  where  one  of  the  three  great  C^iurches  had  gained 
legitimate  possession  and  right  of  occupancy,  the  others  should 
not  interfere  with  it;  should  not  intrude  themselves.     It  would 
he  setting  up  Church  against  Church;  it  would  be  schismatic.     It 
was  not  always  easy  to  determine  whether  there  was  legitimate 
right  of  occiipation.     Civil  National  relations  might  affect  it; 
cliano-es    by    which    a    region    might    pass    from    one    National 
authority  "to    another.     The    rights    and    responsibilities    of    a 
National  Church  were  counted  as  covering  all  the  Nation's  terri- 
tory.    My  meaning  may  be  illustrated  by  the  way  in  which  the 
Church  of  England  exercised   authority  in   the   early   American 
Colonies  so  long  as  they  remained  subject  to  England;  and  later, 
in  its  Canadian  and  Asiatic  possessions;  and  later  still  by  certain 
things  in  our  American  Church  history.     When  the  United  States 
secured  their  independence,  the  Church  in  this  country,  still  con- 
tinuing its  life  unbroken,  ceased  to  be  a  part  of  the  Church  of 
England,  and  became  an  independent  National  Church.     When 
Alaska  from  being  a  foreign  country  became  a  part  of  the  Tnited 
States,  the  Church  in  the  United  States  at  once  claimed  and  exer- 
•cised  its  responsibility  and  right.     When  Honolulu,  Avhere  there 
was  a  bishopric  of  the  Church  of  England,  became  a  part  of  the 
United  States,  by  kindly  agreement  and  action,  the  Church  of 
England  recognized  that   its  former  rights  passed   over   to   the 
Church  of  this  country;  and  now,  instead  of  the  English  bishop, 
ti  bishop  of  the  American  Church  is  in  unquestioned  occupation. 

There  might  be  other  conditions  which  would  make  the  ques- 
tion of  rightful  occupation  somewhat  uncertain.  But  where 
there  was  no  such  doubt,  and  the  right  seemed  clear,  it  used  to 
be  recognized,  more  than  it  is  now,  that  one  branch  of  the  Church, 
or  one  national  Church,  should  not  intrude  itself  into  the  sphere 
of  another.  In  action  with  the  Greek  and  Eastern  Churches, 
this  principle  was  carefully  observed.  When  in  the  year  1840 
the  Church  in  the  United  States  sent  out  its  Missionary  Bishop 
to  Constantinople  and  the  Greek  Church  (Bishop  Southgate), 
he  received  special  instructions  that  he  was  sent,  "  not  to  set 
up  another  Communion,  but  to  seek  and  cultivate  friendly  rela- 
tions with  the  Greek  Churches,  to  co-operate  with  them,  to  help 


BISHOP  OF    MARYLAND. 


21 


-them  to  know  and  understand  us,  and  to  offer  them  our  aid  in 
bringing  those  decaying  churches  into  fuller  spiritual  life." 

The  presiding  bishop  said,  "In  the  intercourse  which  may  be 
allowed  you  with  the  bishops  and  other  ecclesiastical  authorities, 
be  careful  to  state  explicitly  what  are  our  views  .  .  that  we 
would  scrupulously  avoid  all  offensive  intrusion  within  the  juris- 
diction of  our  Episcopal  brethren,  nor  would  we  intermeddle  in 
their  affairs.  Our  great  desire  is  to  commence  and  promote  a 
friendly  intercourse  between  the  two  branches  (Eastern  and 
Western)  of  the  one  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church."  And  in 
the  more  formal  instructions  given  him  at  the  farewell  meeting 
b)efore  his  sailing  we  find  it  written.  "  You  will  keep  steadily  in 
view  the  unity  of  the  Church.  While  your  own  obligations  will 
lead  you  to  avoid  compromising  the  principles  of  Protestant  faith 
and  practice,  you  will  find  every  motive  leading  you,  in  recog- 
nizing the  Apostolical  character  of  those  Christian  Churches,  to 
aid  in  averting  the  evils  of  schism.  In  all  that  pertains  to  the 
ministerial  function  you  have  carefully  considered  the  rights  of 
those  who  bear  spiritual  rule.  You  will  avoid  all  that  shall  in- 
terfere with  those  rights,  and  .  .  .  you  will  endeavor,  on 
proper  occasion,  to  promote  also  the  Christian  integrity  of  those 
churches  within  whose  pale  you  may  reside." 

And  later,  in  the  appointment  of  a  Bishop  of  Jerusalem,  and  in 
the  mission  sent  out  to  the  Assyrians  by  a  former  Archbishop  of 
Canterburv,  Archbishop  Benson,  there  was  the  same  recognition 
of  the  rightful  authority  of  the  existing  Church  of  the  land. 

This  was  practical:)]e,'  because  between  those  Eastern  Churches 
and  ourselves  there  has  never  been  the  determined  opposition, 
the  feeling  of  antagonism,  which  there  is  between  the  Eoman 
Church  and  our  own.  Our  relation  to  the  Eoman  Church  is  quite 
different  from  our  relation  to  the  Eastern  Church:  and  the  differ- 
ence of  relation  compels  difference  of  attitude. 

At  the  time  of  the  General  Convention  of  the  American 
Church,  held  in  Baltimore  in  the  year  1893,  the  question  of  our 
attitude  toward  Eome  received  much  consideration.  It  was  not 
l)rought  before  the  Convention  itself,  but  in  the  great  side  meet- 
ing of  the  Board  of  Missions,  which  included  in  its  membership^ 
with  others,  all  the  members  of  the  Convention.  It  had  not  the 
legislative  authority  of  the  Convention,  but  chiefly  executive 
authority  for  missionary  work.  Not  under  authority  of  the 
Church,  and  without  recognition  by  the  Board  of  Missions,  some 
individuals  had  been  prosecuting  in  Mexico  a  work  of  reforma- 
tion and  conversion,  in  the  hope  of  saving  souls  from  what  was 
felt  to  be  the  unhappy  condition  of  religious  life  in  that  land. 

And  in  the  missionary  meeting  before  named,  it  was  proposed 
by  resolution  that  this  movement,  hitherto  private,  should  be 
adopted  and  owned  by  the  Church,  be  recognized  as  one  of  its 
missions,  and  should  receive  support  from  the  missionary 
treasury.     This  at  once  brought  to  many  minds  that  important 


22  THE  KOMAX  OBEDIENCE, 

question  of  interecclesiastical  relations.  While  Mexico  was  a 
possession  and  colonv  of  Spain,  the  Church  of  Spain,  essentially 
Roman,  had  occupation  and  authority.  When  Mexico  hecame 
independent,  the  Mexican  Church,  like  the  American  Churchy 
became  independent,  and  a  proper  National  Church.  But  though 
independent  of  the  Spanish  Church,  it  voluntarily  remained  sub- 
ject to  Roman  obedience  and  a  part  of  the  Roman  Communion. 
And  many  felt  (and  I  was  one  of  them)  that  this  was  a  condition 
which  called  for  the  very  serious  ./study  of  a  very  important  ques- 
tion. An  amendment  was  offered  to  postpone  the  action  pro- 
posed until  the  question  of  interecclesiastical  relations  involved 
should  have  been  considered  and  decided  by  the  only  body  which 
had  constitutional  authority;  that  is,  by  the  separate  action  of 
the  House  of  Bishops  and  the  House  of  Clerical  and  Lay  Deputies, 
and  not  as  a  side  issue  by  a  vote  appropriating  money.  The 
effort  to  secure  such  higher  consideration  failed. 

But  the  grave  question,  which  the  American  Church  failed  to 
meet  fully,  has  been  decided  in  another  manner.  Pope  Leo  XIIL. 
so  recently  called  away  from  his  labors,  by  decree  claiming 
and  expressing  the  highest  authority  of  the  Roman  Church,  pro- 
nounced the  judgment  of  that  Church,  that  the  orders  and  ordi- 
nation of  the  Church  of  England  are  not  valid;  and  he  so  closed 
the  door  of  reconciliation  between  the  two  Churches.  The  hopes 
for  that,  which  had  lived  for  centuries  among  the  best  men  of 
the  Roman  Church  in  France  and  Germany,  visionary  perhaps 
hitherto,  were  now  completely  destroyed.  And  again,  as  in  the 
days  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  it  is  the  hand  of  Rome  which  has  made 
the  gulf  of  separation  deep,  definite,  and  permanent.  Those  who 
thought  it  a  dim  possibility  that  the  Roman  Church  might  make 
some  concessions  and  reforms,  and  perhaps,  in  time,  bring  the 
two  Churches  together,  must  see  now  that  this  papal  decision  ends 
that  possibility.  Denial  of  our  orders  means  denial  of  our  sac- 
raments, denial  of  our  existence  as  a  Church,  and  as  a  branch  of 
the  Church  Catholic.  We  know  that  decision  to  be  wrong,  and 
against  it  we  appeal  to  the  just  judgment  of  God;  but  by  Rome, 
and  those  who  obey  Rome,  it  is  counted  infallible  and  irreversible. 
And  so  it  takes  away  the  possibility  of  interecclesiastical  relations. 
When  in  the  pontificate  of  Pius  IX.,  the  Roman  Church,  not  con- 
tent with  reaffirming  its  positions  which  had  called  out  our  pro- 
test in  the  English  Reformation,  proceeded  to  make  two  new 
monstrous  additions  to  the  Creed,  the  Immaculate  Conception  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  and  the  Infallibility  of  the  Pope,  great 
Roman  theologians  in  Germany  and  France*^  went  home  utterly 
disheartened,  and  one  of  them,  the  great  Bishop  of  Orleans,  Du- 
panloup,  declared,  "  We  have  now  shut  the  door  in  the  face  of  the 
Church  of  England."  He  never  regained  his  hopefulness,  and  it 
is  said  and  believed  that  he  died  broken-hearted. 

We  are  compelled  to  accept  Rome's  final  relation  and  attitude 
towards  us,  as  determining  our  relations  towards  her.     Had  she 


BISHOP  OF  MARYLAND.  23 

continued  to  acknowledge  our  Church  existence  and  our  part  in 
the  Church  Catholic,  or  had  she  left  it  as  it  was  until  the  last  few 
years,  an  open  question,  those  old  principles  of  interecclesiastical 
relation  might  have  made  us  considerate  of  her  rights  in  the 
lands  where  she  was  in  prior  occupation.  But  hy  declining  to 
recognize  any  ecclesiastical  relation  on  our  part,  she  has  canceled 
our  possible  obligations  and  has  set  us  free. 

I  have  been  speaking  hitherto  rather  of  Rome's  attitude  toward 
us.  than  of  ours  towards  Rome.  Let  us  reverse  the  line  of  view. 
I  find  our  position  and  relation  very  clearly  set  forth  in  two  offi- 
cial statements  which,  if  they  do  not  speak  with  full  authority, 
come  very  near  it. 

The  first  is  from  the  Lambeth  Conference  of  1867.  "We  en- 
treat you  to  guard  yourselves  against  the  growing  superstitions 
and  additions  with  which,  in  these  latter  days,  the  truth  of  God 
has  been  overlaid;  as  otherwise  so  especially  hj  the  pretensions  to 
universal  sovereignty  over  God's  heritage,  asserted  for  the  See  of 
Rome,  and  by  the  practical  exaltation  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary 
as  mediator  in  place  of  her  divine  Son,  and  by  the  addressing  of 
prayers  to  her  as  intercessor  between  God  and  man.  Of  such 
beware,  we  beseech  you,  knowing  that  the  jealous  God  giveth  not 
His  honor  to  another." 

And  next  the  utterance  of  the  House  of  Bishops  of  the  Amer- 
ican Church,  which  in  1878  declared  the  following  to  be  "  indis- 
putable historical  facts  " : 

"  First,  that  the  body  calling  itself  the  Holy  Roman  Church, 
has  by  the  decrees  of  the  council  of  Trent  in  1563,  and  by  the 
dogma  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  in  1854,  and  by  the  decree 
of  the  Infallibility  of  the  Pope  in  1870,  imposed  upon  the  con- 
sciences of  all  the  National  Churches  under  its  sway,  as  of  the 
faith,  to  be  held  as  of  implicit  necessity  to  salvation,  dogmas  hav- 
ing no  warrant  in  Holy  Scripture  or  in  the  ancient  Creeds;  which 
dogmas  are  so  radically  false  as  to  corrupt  and  defile  the  faith. 

"And,  second;  That  the  assumption  of  a  universal  Episcopate 
by  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  making  operative  the  definition  of  papal 
infallibility,  has  deprived  of  its  original  independence  the  Epis- 
copal Order  in  the  Latin  Churches,  and  substituted  for  it  a  papal 
vicariate  for  the  superintending  of  dioceses;  while  the  virtual 
change  of  the  divine  constitution  of  the  Church,  as  founded  in  the 
Episcopate  and  other  orders,  into  a  Tridentine  consolidation,  has 
destroyed  the  autonomy,  if  not  the  corporate  existence  of  National 
Churches." 

The  protest  against  Roman  error  which  was  declared  in  the  va- 
rious steps  of  the  English  Reformation,  and  took  definite  form  in 
the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  and  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  is 
thus  reaffirmed.  The  errors  of  Rome  have  not  grown  less,  but 
greater.  The  voice  and  action  of  protest  must  not  fail.  We  stand 
in  our  attitude  towards  Rome  as  charging  her  with  dangerous  and 
almost  fatal  errors.     We  oppose  those  errors.     We  must  warn 


24  THE     ROMAN     OBEDIENCE. 

af^iinst  them.  We  must  try  to  save  souls  from  them.  We  cannot 
be'innooent,  if  wc  keep  silent.  Eome  has  set  us  free  to  speak  and 
free  to  act;  and  indeed  in  the  boldness  of  speech  of  her  preachers 
in  asserting?  Avhat  they  believe  to  be  her  truth  and  assailing  what 
thev  \hink'"'to  be  our'errors,  they  set  us  an  example  of  boldness 
which,  omitting  the  bitterness  and  abuse  that  too  often  accompany 
it,  we' might  well  follow.  I  know  the  popular  prejudice  against 
wiiat  is  called  controversial  preaching.  I  know  how  our  Church 
has  seemed  to  shrink  from  it.  But  there  are  two  kinds  of  contro- 
versy: that  which  speaks  in  bitterness,  and  that  which  speaks  in 
love".  We  have  no  right  to  shrink  from  the  latter,  where  it  is 
needed. 

To  deny  the  claims  which  the  Church  of  Rome  wrongly  urges, 
and  to  refute  them,  is  a  duty.  To  warn  souls  against  them  is  a 
duty.  To  save  souls  from  the  superstitious  practices  which  have 
grown  into  their  worship,  both  public  and  private,  is  a  duty.  Ta 
give  where  we  can,  to  souls  which  have  been  misled,  what  we 
know  to  be  the  better  paths  and  the  fuller  light,  is  a  duty.  And 
so  long  as  we  avoid  bitterness  and  speak  the  truth  in  love,  I  feel 
that  there  are  not  now  any  principles  of  interecclesiastical  relation 
which  should  restrain  or  fetter  us  in  our  attitude  towards  Rome. 


Seco7id  Topic. 

THE  ATTITUDE  OF  OUR  CHURCH  TOWARD  CHURCHES 
SUBJECT  "TO  THE  ROMAN  OBEDIENCE. 

Second  Paper. 

The  Right  Rev.  James  Heartt  Van  Buren,  D.D., 

BISHOP  OF  PORTO  RICO. 

God  forbid  that  the  "  attitude  "  of  our  Church  toward  Churches 
subject  to  any  "  obedience  "  whatsoever  should  be  aught  save  the 
attitude  of  unlimited  and  invincible  charity.  In  the  discussion  of 
the  present  question,  may  God  keep  us  from  any  departure  from 
this  fundamental  premise. 

You  will  not  expect  at  this  time  a  dissertation  upon  the  aca- 
demic aspect  of  the  topic  before  us.  The  occasion;  the  events  of 
recent  history;  the  misgivings  and  doubts  which  are  present  in  cer- 
tain minds;  the  desire  '^  to  think  and  to  do  only  such  things  as  are 
right,"  which  must  be  assumed  as  being  in  control  over  the  "con^ 
science  of  this  Church — all  conspire  to  limit  the  meaning  of  our 
question  to  a  simple  inquiry,  touching  the  duty  of  the  Anglo- 
American  Communion  toward  Churches  of  the  Roman  obedience 
in  the  several  countries  of  the  Western  Hemisphere  and_  the 
islands  adjacent  thereto;  also  in  Honolulu  and  the  Philippines. 

So  ably  and  convincingly  has  this  question  been  discussed  in  a 
recent  article  by  the  Bishop  of  Southern  Brazil,  that  it  seems  as 


BISHOP  OF  rORTO  RICO.  25 

difficult  to  add  to,  as  it  is  impossible  to  dissent  from,  the  conclu- 
sions at  which  he  arrives.  Yet  the  same  conclusions  ma}^  be 
reached  and  re-enforced  by  a  different  method  from  that  pursued 
by  him  in  last  April's  number  of  The  East  and  the  West. 

Our  right  and  our  duty  to  enter  the  countries  and  the  islands 
above  mentioned,  whatever  be  the  national  flag  under  which  their 
people  live,  can  no  more  reasonably  be  questioned  than  our  right 
and  our  duty  to  be  present  and  minister  the  pure  gospel  and  sac- 
raments of  our  Blessed  Lord  in  Montreal  or  Washington.  The 
theory  that  such  entrance  is  an  "  intrusion  "  can  lead  to  but  one- 
logical  result.  That  is  to  say,  that  it  is  our  dutv  to  withdraw 
from  every  part  of  the  field  the  moment  there  enters  an  organized 
representative  of  the  Vatican.  For  the  theorv  of  intrusion  does 
not  rest  upon  the  accident  of  priority  of  arrival  on  the  field.  It 
rests,  in  the  ultimate  analysis,  upon"  the  theory  of  the  universal 
supremacy  of  the  Bishop  of  Kome.  It  postulates  the  exemption  of 
the  Pope  from  the  operation  of  the  ancient  and  well-established 
principle,  that  a  bishop  has  no  jurisdiction  outside  his  own 
diocese. 

And  having  entered  these  lands,  what  is  our  attitude?  The 
answer  is  not  far  to  seek.  Our  brother,  the  late  Leo  XIII.  of 
honored  memory,  has  given  a  portion  of  the  answer,  in  his  reply 
to  the  Anglican  encyclical,  denying  the  validity  of  our  orders. 

(1)  Our  attitude  toward  Churches  of  the  Roman  obedience  is 
that  of  a  member  in  some  ancient  family,  whose  brother  has  pro- 
nounced him  an  illegitimate  son.  But,  abiding  in  the  demon- 
strated legitimacy  of  our  title  to  sonship  in  the  family  of  Christ, 
as  voiced  by  the  encyclical  of  the  Archbishops  of  York  and  Can- 
terbury, our  attitude  is  the  peaceful  and  undisturbed  attitude  of 
Christian  forgiveness  toward  the  demonstrated  fallibility  of  the 
late  papal  utterance,  on  the  subject  of  our  heritage.  Rome  may 
still  dissemble  her  love,  but  she  cannot  prevent  us  from  praying 
for  her. 

(2)  In  our  attitude  toward  Churches  of  the  Roman  obedience, 
the  next  element  is  that  of  fidelity  to  the  charge  committed  to 
our  trust.  In  doctrine,  discipline,  order,  and  worship,  we  stand  as 
ministers  and  stewards  of  the  mysteries  and  of  the  manifold 
grace  of  God.  "•  Moreover,  it  is  required  of  stewards  that  a  man 
be  found  faithful."  We  did  not  create,  we  received;  we  do  not 
own,  we  administer;  and  those  things  which  we  have  received  and 
which  we  administer  belong  of  divine  gift  to  the  entire  human 
race.  It  is  in  perfect  accordance  with  the  dictates  of  charity  that 
no  hostility  to  the  imparting  of  the  treasure,  no  traditional  with- 
holding of  word  or  sacraments  can  in  any  way  affect  our  duty 
to  dispense  the  same,  freely,  to  whomsoever  will  receive  them. 
iVnd  since  we  are  not  in  the  lands  under  consideration  by  the  leave 
or  permission  of  the  Roman  Church,  there  is  no  reason  why  we 
should  take  the  wishes  of  that  Church  into  the  reckoning,  one  way 
or  the  other.     Our  brother  has  repudiated  us.     It  is  not  suppos- 


2g  THE  ROMAN  OBEDIENCE. 

able  that  our  actions  interest  him  further.  But  for  our  steward- 
ship wo  are  accountable  to  Him  of  whom  we  received  it,  and  we 
are  accountable  to  Him  alone. 

(3)  The  next  element  in  determining  our  attitude  is  the  duty 
of  discrimination.  We  have  to  deal  with  people  many  of  whom 
hold  a  nominal  or  a  real  allegiaiice  to  the  Eoman  Church.  And 
as  one  of  our  earliest  missionary  bishops,  on  a  certain  occasion, 
spoke  from  Mars  Hill  words  in  which  he  carefully  separated  the 
true  from  the  false  in  the  philosophy  of  those  Athenian  citizens 
and  strangers  whom  he  addressed,  so  it  is  our  present  duty  to 
point  out,  by  sermon,  by  pamphlet,  by  words  of  private  conversa- 
tion, and  in  every  other  way  possible,  that  there  is  a  residue  of 
Catholic  truth  in^the  teachings  of  Eome.  It  is  our  duty  to  aid  the 
perplexed  intellect  in  the  separation  of  this  element  from  the 
additions  of  Trent  and  the  Vatican;  and  to  stand  firm  for  all  that 
is  primitive,  true,  and  apostolic  in  the  Eoman  system.  "  Charity 
rejoiceth  in  the  truth." 

In  this  element  or  aspect  of  the  attitude  of  our  Church  toward 
Churches  of  the  Eoman  obedience,  we  are  not  descending  to  the 
arena  of  strife.  To  "  contend  earnestly  for  the  faith  once  de- 
livered to  the  saints  "  is  not  well  or  wisely  done  by  the  weapons 
of  controversy,  whether  offensive  or  defensive.  The  apostolic 
Church  must  conduct  her  spiritual  warfare  in  the  apostolic 
manner  and  by  the  apostolic  method.  Instead  of  the  anathema 
we  are  employing  the  palm  branch  of  righteousness  and  peace.  In 
place  of  the  rack  and  the  thumbscrews  and  all  the  other  infernal 
devices  once  deemed  efticacious  in  changing  men's  minds  by  tor- 
turing their  flesh,  we  are  employing  the  unanswerable  argument 
of  well-doing.  Instead  of  the  stake  and  the  fagots  we  are  employ- 
ing the  parish  school  and  the  Bible-class.  As  a  substitute  for 
those  medieval  forms  of  Christian  Science  which  seek  to  heal 
live  men's  diseases  by  dead  men's  bones,  we  employ  the  saner 
methods  of  the  Christian  hospital,  and  since  the  people  of  the 
lands  under  discussion  are  not  all  imbecile,  we  have  faith  to  be- 
lieve that  these  methods  will  commend  themselves  as  at  least 
worthy  of  a  trial. 

(4)  Logically,  the  next  element  in  our  attitude  is  that  of  a 
strict  adherence  to  the  liturgical  wisdom  of  our  Church,  adapting 
that  liturgy,  so  far  as  may  be  lawful,  to  the  necessities  and  limi- 
tations of  those  with  whom  we  have  to  deal,  but  avoiding  all  that 
can  be  justly  considered  a  mere  servile  imitation  of  the  Eoman 
ritual.  It  is  incredible  that  our  peerless  liturgy  should  ever  or 
in  any  place  be  rendered  in  such  ways  and  with  such  accompani- 
ments as  would  even  suggest  the  Tridentine,  materialistic  theory 
of  the  sacrifice  of  the  Mass.  But  still  more  inconceivable  is  it  that 
this  should  be  done  in  countries  where  it  is  so  important  to  con- 
vince the  intellect,  the  affections,  and  the  conscience,  of  the  dif- 
ference between  the  original  Gospel  and  the  modern  theories  and 
inventions  which  have  been  superimposed  upon  it,  by  the  depar- 


BISHOP  OF  PORTO  RICO. 


27 


tures  of  the  Tridentine  decrees  from  that  which  was  committed  to 
the  Apostles.  We  are  in  possession  and  use  of  a  form  of  worship 
in  which  St.  Paul  would  have  found  himself  at  home.  We  are 
workino-,  praying,  preaching,  worshiping,  in  countries  where  for 
centuries  religion  has  been  a  thing  of  ceremonial.  God  forbid 
that  we  should  question  the  sincerity  of  others;  but  our  attitude 
toward  the  system  which  has  obtained  under  the  Roman  obedi- 
ence is  that  of  insistence  upon  the  weightier  matters  of  the  law, 
justice,  mercy,  and  love.  To  ceremonial  as  an  outward  form  and 
expression  of  devotion,  and  as  a  means  of  inspiring  thereto,  we 
give  ample  scope.  But  we  insist  that  creed  must  issue  in  con- 
duct, that  communion  must  lead  to  Christ-likeness,  that  the  lit- 
urgy must  lift  up  the  life,  and  that  the  Eucharistic  sacrifice  must 
be  counterbalanced  by  "  the  sacrifice  of  a  broken  spirit." 

We  stand  in  the  attitude  of  witness-bearers  in  countries  where 
the  materialistic  theory  of  the  Eucharist  takes  expression  in  the 
festival  of  Corpus  Christi,  marked  by  processions  in  which  the 
consecrated  Host  is  carried  aloft  through  the  streets,  and,  as  the 
ostensorium  passes,  the  multitude  is  expected  to  do  obeisance.  We 
live  in  lands  where,  on  Good  Friday,  a  wax  image  of  the  dead 
Saviour  is  carried  in  a  glass  coffin  to  meet  the  wax  image  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  clad  in  the  habiliments  of  mourning,  and  borne 
aloft  through  the  streets.  And  in  that  pageant,  so  grotesque,  so 
unfamiliar,  and  so  sad  to  our  remonstrant  eyes,  it  is  easy  to  see 
the  fruits  of  that  cultus  of  the  Virgin  Mother  of  our  Lord  which 
began  with  a  mistranslation  of  the  Theotokos*  and  which  ac- 
counts for  the  fact  that  her  image  receives  more  veneration  than 
His.  Here  again  our  attitude  is  that  of  witness-bearers  to  the 
truth  as  the  early  Christians  knew  it,  who  would  find  themselves 
as  entirely  out  of  sympathy  with  such  a  demonstration  as  would 
all  the  disciples  of  all  the  centuries  of  the  Christian  Church  which 
preceded  the  promulgation  of  the  dogma  of  the  "Immaculate 
Conception." 

We  are  bearing  the  apostolic  witness  against  these  and  similar 
demonstrations;  not  by  violence,  not  by  newspaper  attacks,  not  by 
the  hurling  of  harsh  epithets,  but  by  the  testimony  of  action  and 
life  in  a  loyal  adherence  to  the  primitive  simplicity  of  the  pure 
Word  of  God  and  the  apostolic  traditions  of  His  Holy  Church, 
which  distinctlv  declare  that  these  things,  and  all  the  other  like 
departures  of  the  Roman  obedience  from  the  divine  original,  do 
form  no  part  of  true  Catholic  doctrine,  but  are  "fond  inven- 
tions "  of  men,  whose  minds,  and  whose  thoughts  God  in  His  in- 
finite mercy  alone  is  entitled  to  judge.  We  live,  however,  among 
people  many  of  whom  declare  to  us  that  they  not  only  have  no 
sympathv  with  such  demonstrations,  but  who  even  go  so  far  as  to 
add  that'they  blush  with  shame  to  think  that  Americans  are  called 
upon  to  behold  them. 

*  Not  fj.'^Ttjp  ^edv,  Mother  of  God;  but  ^eordKos,  bringing  forth  of  Him  who 
is  God. 


28  THE  ROMAN  OBEDIENCE. 

The  Eoman  obedience  in  so-called  Latin  countries  is  a  far  dif- 
ferent thing  from  what  it  is  in  countries  that  have  felt  the  in- 
fluence of  the  Renaissance  and  the  outcome  of  that  revival  in 
the  declared  principles  of  the  Eeformation  movement.  One  of 
the  elements  of  hopefulness  with  which  we  go  to  our  work  in 
such  countries  arises  from  the  fact  that  already  the  influence  of 
Protestant  missions,  public  schools,  and  increased  intelligence,  is 
making  itself  felt  and  showing  the  results  of  the  process  of  en- 
lightenment and  evangelization  upon  the  Eoman  Churches  them- 
selves by  a  distinct  reduction  in  the  number  of  such  demonstra- 
tions, bv  an. increased  efficiency  in  the  Eoman  parochial  schools, 
and  by  a  more  subdued  and  chastened,  not  to  say  civilized,  mode 
of  keeping  the  fiestas  or  festival  days. 

We  live  among  people  who  have,  in  many  instances,  found  the 
Eoman  additions  to  the  faith  once  delivered  too  preposterous  a 
strain  upon  their  credulity,  and  who  have  taken  refuge  in  utter 
and  avowed  agnosticism.  It  is  our  privilege,  and  it  forms  part  of 
our  attitude  toward  Churches  of  the  Eoman  obedience,  that  we 
can  show  these  people  how  beautiful  is  the  cross  when  all  the  cob- 
webs of  superstition  and  fanaticism,  together  wdth  the  accumu- 
lated dust  of  ignorance,  have  been  removed!  We  are  there  to 
offer  them  not  only  "the  communion  of  the  Catholic  Church,'^ 
but  also  "the  comfort  of  a  reasonable,  religious,  and  holy  hope." 
And  this  we  are  doing  in  the  spirit  of  perfect  charity  toward  all 
men  and  with  the  constant,  prayer  that  He  will  "  bring  into  the 
way  of  truth  all  such  as  have  erred  and  been  deceived,"  who  has 
promised  that,  if  He  be  lifted  up,  He  will  draw  all  men  unto 
Him. 

(5)  The  limits  of  this  discussion  create  the  necessity  of  making 
but  one  more,  and  final,  reference  to  the  attitude  of  our  Church 
toward  Churches  of  the  Eoman  obedience.  We  stand  toward  them 
in  the  attitude  of  free  men.  Bound  by  no  allegiance  to  any  re- 
production of  that  system  which  St.  Paul  denounced  because  it 
commanded  "  to  abstain  from  meats  "  and  forbade  "  to  marry," 
we  are  there  in  the  further  enjoyment  of  the  same  Apostle's 
liberty  "  to  lead  about  a  wife,  a  sister."  We  are  more  free  to  de- 
vote ourselves  to  matters  appertaining  to  the  apostolic  office,  since 
we  are  under  no  constraint  by  labored  argument  and  casuistical 
ingenuity,  to  reconcile  the  fact  that  St.  Peter's  successors,  whether 
in  a  real  or  some  imaginary  succession,  are  compelled  to  be  celi- 
bates, with  the  inconvenient,  but  authenticated  fact  that  "  Peter's 
wife's  mother  lay  sick  of  a  fever."  In  countries  where  the  en- 
forced celibacy  of  the  Eoman  clergy  has  been  productive  of  an 
impression,  to  say  the  least,  not  favorable  to  the  good  reputation 
of  that  prohibitory  measure,  it  is  of  immense  value  that  we  are  in 
the  attitude  of  those  who  can  show  by  precept  and  practice,  not 
only  that  this  sacramental  estate  is  allowed  of  the  Lord,  and 
honorable  among  all  men,  including  the  successors  of  St.  Peter, 
but  that  matrimony,  like  education,  is  one  of  the  best  and  most 


BISHOP  OF  rORTO  RICO.  '  29 

blessed  circumstances  that  can  possibly  happen  to  the  minister 
and  steward  of  the  mysteries  of  God. 

Free  from  allegiance  to  any  power  which  would  interfere  with 
our  liberty  in  this  particular,  we  stand  also  in  the  attitude  toward 
Churches  of  the  Koman  obedience  as  free  Christian  citizens  who 
owe  no  obedience  to  any  civil  power  but  that  which  our  country's 
flag  represents;  or,  as  in  the  case  of  Brazil,  to  the  civil  power  that 
is  dominant  there.  It  is  not  necessary  for  the  purposes  of  this 
paper  to  enter  into  any  question  as  to  the  exact  meaning  of  the 
expression,  "  Eoman  obedience,"  viewed  on  its  civil  side.  Enough 
to  point  out  that  in  the  civil  obedience  which  our  Church  incul- 
cates there  is  no  such  question.  The  undivided  loyalty  of  the  citi- 
zen to  the  laws  of  the  land  is  a  principle  which  enters  into  the 
attitude  of  our  Church  toward  Churches  of  the  Roman  obedience, 
and  gives  us  the  vantage  ground  of  entire  ability  to  say  to  all 
the  world  that  whatever  question  of  casuistry  may  trouble  others, 
in  case  decrees  of  a  foreign  ruler  should  ever  be  at  variance 
with  the  laws  of  the  country  in  which  both  we  and  the  subjects  of 
such  a  ruler  are  living,  we  are  bound  in  our  consciences  only  by 
the  law  of  Christ,  who  is  the  Head  of  the  Church;  and  in  our 
citizenship  by  the  law  of  the  country  in  which  we  live,  without  the 
remotest  possibility  of  foreign  interpretation,  interference,  dicta- 
tion, or  intrusion.  We  are  not  anxious  to  occupy  the  despondent 
attitude  of  the  rejected  suitor,  neither  do  we  consider  ourselves 
as  some  mere  Protestant  fly  in  the  Eoman  ointment.  Eather 
would  our  attitude  be  described  as  that  of  Sir  Galahad,  bending 
in  prayer  before  the  altar;  watchful  through  the  night  shadows; 
eager  in  the  pursuit  of  the  Holy  Grail,  deeply  conscious  of  the 
knightly  accolade;  but  with  his  sword  obediently  "put  up  in  his 
sheath,''  as  the  Lord  commanded ;  and  "  whose  strength  is  as  the 
strength  of  ten,  because  his  heart  is  pure." 

This  attitude  we  bear,  let  it  be  reiterated,  in  the  spirit  of  Chris- 
tian charity,  with  due  regard  to  the  dignity  and  the  apostolic 
character  of  our  Holy  Church  and  with  the  fervent  prayer  that 
He  who  is  the  "  Prince  of  the  Holy  Catholic  Church  throughout 
all  the  world  "  will  in  His  own  good  time  remove  whatsoever  doth 
hinder  the  coming  of  that  unity  in  His  wounded  body,  the  Church, 
for  which  He  prayed,  and  that  we  all  may  be  one,  even  as  He  is 
one  with  the  Father,  that  we  all  may  be  one  in  Him,  by  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.    Amen. 


30  AUTONOMOUS  CHURCHES  IN  HEATHEN  LANDS. 


WEDNESDAY  AFTEENOON. 

Third  Topic. 

THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  AUTONOMOUS  CHUECHES  IN 
HEATHEN  LANDS. 

General  Paper 

The  Right  Rev.  John  Scarborough,  D.D., 

BISHOP  OF  NEW  JERSEY 

The  discussion  of  this  topic  excludes,  of  course,  all  considera- 
tion of  such  missions  as  those  in  Hayti,  Cuba,  Mexico,  Brazil,  or 
the  Philippines, — and  I  might  add  Honolulu  and  Porto  Eico. 
For  while  the  social  and  religious  states  of  the  people  in  those 
lands  cannot  rightly  be  described  as  "  heathen,"  many  of  them 
are  most  ignorant  and  degraded,  and  the  standard  of  morality  is 
very  low.  The  Eoman  Church,  which  has  for  centuries  held  un- 
disputed sway,  and  had  exclusive  control  of  the  religious  training 
of  the  people  in  most  of  the  countries  named,  has  lamentably 
failed  in  her  mission.  On  the  world's  map  they  are  marked  as 
Christian,  and  we  therefore  rule  them  out  of  our  vision.  In  the 
century  recently  closed  the  Church  of  England  and  our  own 
Church  have  made  large  missionary  ventures  in  heathen  lands, 
and  the  question  suggested  for  consideration  is  one  of  great  prac- 
tical importance.  Shall  we  continue  permanently  to  regard  our 
converts  in  heathen  lands  as  the  wards  of  a  foreign  church — an 
alien  people — as  the  ancient  Eomans  were  wont  to  regard  their 
conquered  provinces  beyond  the  sea?  or  shall  we  make  ever}' 
effort  toward  the  growth  and  development  of  self-help,  planting 
and  watering  the  divine  seed  till  it  has  reached  the  fullness  and 
ripeness  of  the  ear?  In  my  own  mind  there  is  no  doubt  as  to 
which  is  the  better  way. 

If  we  search  the  New  Testament  Scriptures  for  models,  we  will 
find  that  the  Churches  founded  by  the  Apostles,  either  were  at 
first,  or  speedily  became,  autonomous.  St.  Timothy  and  St. 
Titus  were  put  in  charge  of  independent  dioceses,  with  power  to 
ordain  and  minister  discipline.  The  different  liturgies  that  have 
come  down  to  us,  bearing  the  names  of  Apostles  or  their  imme- 
diate successors,  are  proofs  positive  that  in  that  early  day  mis- 
sion churches,  as  they  grew  and  prospered,  became  national  or 
independent,  though  still  members  of  the  one  family  and  house- 
hold of  which  Christ  was  the  head.  And  while  the  conditions  that 
prevailed  in  that  early  age  of  the  Church  were  not  precisely  anal- 
ogous to  those  of  our  own  day,  yet  there  are  certain  great  funda- 
mental principles  that  remain  unchanged  and  are  common  to 
every  age  alike.     Though  I  cannot   speak   of  foreign  missions 


BISHOP  OF  NEW  JERSEY.  31 

from  personal  experience,  it  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  be 
in  close  touch  with  the  work  and  the  workers  in  heathen  lands 
for  the  past  quarter  of  a  century. 

Perhaps  a  brief  sketch  of  the  missions  we  have  undertaken 
will  best  evidence  my  hope  and  firm  belief  in  their  ultimate 
achievement  of  independence.  I  will  not  venture  to  discuss  the 
missions  of  the  Church  of  England  that  now  circle  the  earth  like 
a  bright  zodiac  of  light,  because  I  am  not  as  familiar  with  them 
as  with  our  own — though  I  might  safely  predict  the  grandest 
results  for  a  Church  that  has  converted  New  Zealand  and  is 
now  winning  Uganda.  She  will  continue  multiplying  sees,  and 
founding  churches,  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe  far  beyond  our 
wildest  dream  for  our  own  feebler  effort.  Our  chief  interest, 
as  you  know,  centers  in  China,  Japan,  and  Africa,  and  my  con- 
tention is  that  in  each  of  these  three  points  our  aim  should  be 
the  founding  and  building  up  of  a  National  Church,  wath  its 
native  ministry,  and  in  communion  with  that  portion  of  the 
Church  Catholic  to  which  we  belong. 

It  was  a  bold  venture  of  faith  when,  in  the  first  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  our  Church  determined  to  enter  upon  the 
work  of  foreign  missions.  With  a  wndespreading  territory  at  home, 
rapidly  filling  up  with  a  population  that  needed  to  be  trained 
and  molded  in  citizenship  as  well  as  in  religion — some  asked  the 
question,  "To  what  purpose  is  this  waste?"  Results  have 
proved  that  there  was  no  waste,  but  a  far-seeing  wisdom  whose 
reaction  has  been  stimulating  and  healthful. 

When  Bishop  Boone  was  chosen  and  consecrated  for  China,  in 
1844,  every  effort  was  made  by  family  and  friends  to  dissuade 
him  from  undertaking  what  in  their  eyes  seemed  a  wild  and 
hopeless  venture.  Why  go  so  far  away  when  the  need  at  home 
is  so  pressing  and  so  great?  And  besides  all  this  the  gates  of 
China  are  closed — barred  and  bolted — against  the  admission  of 
foreigners.  The  brave  young  missionary  was  unshaken  in  his 
purpose,  and  answered  these  pleadings  in  words  that  deserve  to 
be  remembered :  "  If  I  am  permitted  only  to  oil  the  hinges  of 
the  gates  of  China,  so  that  some  other  hand  may  open  them, 
I  will  be  quite  content."  He  lived  to  see  China  wide  open,  and, 
what  is  more,  he  was  privileged  to  admit  to  holy  orders  native 
Christians  of  his  own  training.  The  little  company  of  con- 
verts gathered  into  the  fold  by  that  first  bishop  has  been  mul- 
tiplied many  times.  The  little"  one  has  literally  become,  not  only 
a  thousand,'  but  thousands.  In  the  half  century  and  more  that 
has  intervened  since  that  first  faint  beginning  was  made  on  the 
soil  of  China  we  have  learned  much  about  the  life  and  habits  of 
that  wonderful  people.  We  have  learned,  for  instance,  that 
China  makes  learning  the  sole  condition  of  social  or  political 
preferment.  The  scholar  is  the  nobleman.  Family  and  fortune 
count  for  little  in  competition  with  knowledge.  And  while  we 
may  judge  their  methods  as  effete  compared  with  our  own,  we 


82 


AUTONOMOUS  CHURCHES  IN  HEATHEN  LANDS. 


must  not  forget  that  they  were  hoary  with  age  when  the  ab- 
origines roamed  at  will  over  this  fair  land  and  the  white  man 
had  not  yet  set  a  foot  upon  it.  We  have  learned  that  we  must 
meet  the' disciple  of  Confucius  on  his  own  ground,  and  deal  with 
him  from  the  standpoint  of  his  own  philosophy.  We  must  not 
recrard  him  as  void  of  understanding,  nor  assume  that  he  is  m 
utter  ignorance,  to  be  dealt  with  as  a  child.  As  a  people  the 
Chinese  are  slow  in  adopting  new  things.  To  their  apprehension 
the  old  is  better.  But,  when  once  they  are  convinced,  and  won 
for  the  truth,  they  remain  steadfast  and  unshaken.  To  illustrate 
this  strong  characteristic  of  the  race,  let  me  state  a  fact  that 
deserves  to  be  more  widely  known.  During  the  recent  Boxer 
uprising,  which  was  aimed  chiefly  against  Christians,  whether 
native  or  foreign,  not  one  convert,  as  far  as  our  Mission  Board 
has  been  informed,  denied  the  faith  to  save  himself  from  torture 
and  death.  Surelv  such  a  record  gives  hope  and  promise  for 
the  future  of  that  infant  Asiatic  Church.  We  have  in  China  two 
bishops  and  a  goodly  number  of  helpers,  men  and  women  of 
consecrated  life,  laboring  with  apostoUc  zeal — and,  thank  God — 
with  a  good  degree  of  apostolic  success.  We  have  a  college  at 
Shanghai,  filled  to  overflowing  with  the  flower  of  Chinese  youth. 
There  are  other  schools  for  both  sexes,  hospitals,  homes,  and 
churches  in'  goodly  number.  I  have  no  doubt  at  all  that  before 
many  generations  have  passed  the  infant  Church  in  the  Yang- 
tse  Valley  will  be  a  self-supporting,  self-governing,  autonomous 
body,  a  branch  of  the  true  vine.  But  we  must  not  grow  impa- 
tient. We  must  pray  and  give  and  bide  the  Lord's  time,  for 
with  Him  a  thousand  years  are  as  one  day! 

What  shall  I  say  of  Japan— that  miracle  of  our  day?  I  was 
a  youth  in  college  when  Commodore  Perry  was  sent  by  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  to  order  her  ports  opened  to  the 
commerce  of  the  world.  Up  to  that  date  Japan  was  a  sealed  book, 
living  within  her  own  stronghold  and  shutting  out  other  nations. 
It  is  hard  to  realize  the  wonderful  changes  wrought  in  half  a  cen- 
tury by  that  enterprising  nation.  They  have  railroads,  telegraphs, 
and  telephones  in  every  quarter  of  their  land.  They  have  a  pub- 
lic-school system  based  mostly  on  ours,  though  excelling  ours  in 
some  respects.  They  not  only  carry  their  youth  through  the 
.primary  departments  of  education,  but  through  the  university 
course,  free  of  charge.  Her  soldiers  fought  beside  our  own,  as 
well  as  with  the  soldiers  of  other  countries,  in  defense  of  human 
rights,  against  a  nation  near  of  kin.  Her  navy,  built  and  manned 
by  her  own  sons,  has  won  fame  and  victory  on  the  seas. 

For  Japan  old  things  have  passed  away.  Her  idols  have  gone 
to  the  owls  and  the  bats.  Her  commerce  has  expanded.  Her 
wealth  has  grown  marvelously.  Her  statesmen  are  enlightened. 
Her  laws  are  just  and  liberal,  but  her  future  in  things  pertaining 
to  God  no  one  can  foretell.  Her  great  prosperity  in  worldly 
things  may  blind  her  eves.     Our  mission  work  there  has  made 


BISHOP  OF  NEW  JERSEY.  33 

rapid  progress.  Many  orood  men  have  laid  down  their  lives  for  it. 
We  have  two  active  hishops,  and  two  on  the  retired  list  residing 
there,  besides  a  noble  body  of  missionaries,  men  and  women.  We 
have  schools  of  every  grade,  hospitals,  asylums,  churches,  and 
everything  needful  for  carrying  on  their  work,  except  'more 
mirses  and  more  men.  Japan  has  already  established  a  national 
Church,  the  framework  of  that  which 'time  will  develop  and 
strengthen.  There  are  native  priests,  some  of  them  graduates 
and  honor  men  in  our  American  Universities,  who  are  even  now 
well  fitted  to  be  leaders  of  their  people  in  things  spiritual.  Surely 
where  there  is  so  much  to  give  encouragement  in  the  present, 
there  need  be  little  anxiety  about  the  future.  The  Church  of 
England  and  our  own  Church  will  one  dav  join  in  consecrating 
Japanese  Bishops  for  a  Japanese  National  Church. 

The  conditions  in  Africa  do  not  promise  speedy  results.  There 
is  not  the  same  foundation  to  build  on  as  in  China  and  Japan.  A 
race  sunk  deep  in  barbarism  and  oppression  rises  slowly.  The  Re- 
public of  Liberia,  founded  1)y  tlie  Xegroes  colonized  from  this 
country,  has  been  a  strong  bulwark  against  the  cruel  slave-trade, 
and  has  made  some  inroads  on  the  tribes  of  the  interior.  When  I 
studied  my  geography  as  a  schooH^oy,  the  whole  interior  of 
Africa  was  marked  as  the  great  Sahara  desert.  Now  that  un- 
known land  has  been  reclaimed  for  civilization,  and  literally  blos- 
soms as  the  rose.  While  the  portion  of  Africa  w^here  our  Church 
claims  jurisdiction  is  hardly  more  than  a  narrow  strip  along  the 
coast  line,  there  are  other  influences,  molding  and  shaping  the 
destinies  of  the  Dark  Continent,  so  that  once  again  Ethiopia  will 
stretch  out  her  hands  to  God,  and  the  glories  of  St.  Augustine's 
day  will  be  revived.  The  race  that  can  produce  a  Crowther,  a 
Holly,  and  a  Ferguson,  must  have  in  it  elements  of  greatness, 
waiting  for  the  time  and  the  occasion  to  call  them  out.  The 
labors  of  Payne,  Auer,  and  Hoffman  were  not  in  vain.  Our  bishop 
and  his  band  of  helpers  are  doing  their  best.  There  is  no 
ground  for  discouragement,  but  rather  for  thanksgivings.  The 
promised  day  will  come,  the  day  of  Africa's  redemption,  though 
we  may  think  it  late  in  coming. 

From  this  brief  inventory  of  the  missions  we  have  established 
in  heathen  lands  J  am  firmly  convinced  that  we  are  laying  the 
foundations  of  National  or  x\utonomous  Churches.  They  may 
need  our  nursing  care  for  a  good  while,  and  the  exercise  of  great 
wisdom  in  guiding  them  and  guarding  them  against  perils.  When 
I  think  of  all  that  has  been  accomplished  in  a  brief  space  of  time 
I  am  led  to  wonder,  not  that  so  little,  but  so  much  has  been  done. 
We  have  sent  out  hardly  more  than  a  picket  guard  to  do  the  work 
of  an  army.  If  our  faith  had  been  stronger,  and  our  gifts  larger, 
the  results  would  have  been  greater  in  jDroportion.  Thank  God, 
the  need  of  apologizing  for  missions  to  heathen  lands  no  longer 
exists.  Missionary  knowledge  and  missionary  zeal  are  both  grow- 
ing apace,  and  the  outlook  is  full  of  promise.    If  those  intrusted 


34  AUTONOMOUS  CHURCHES  IN  HEATHEN  LANDS. 

with  the  conduct  of  our  missionary  affairs  should  have  a  clear 
virion  of  the  possibilities  that  now  seem  so  promising,  they  will 
not  hold  any  mission  in  leading  strings  too  long,  nor  continue  to 
hold  it  in  a  subordinate  or  dependent  place  when  it  is  strong 
enough  to  stand  alone.  The  mother-bird  compels  her  young  to 
quit  the  nest,  that  thev  may  learn  betimes  to  strengthen  their 
wino-s  bv  using  them.  '  So  may  th§  Church  encourage  her  mis- 
sion's to^  self-help,  and  like  him  who  conquered  many  king- 
doms, and  sighed  for  others  still  to  conquer,  so  may  the  Church 
not  rest  content  with  any  partial  measure  of  success,  nor  slacken 
her  efforts,  till  every  listening  ear  has  heard  the  good  news,  and 
every  eye  has  seen  the  salvation  of  our  God!  The  great  question 
for  us  to  consider,  savs  one,  is  not  so  much  whether  C4od  will  save 
the  heathen,  as  whether  He  will  save  us  if  we  neglect  our  duty 
to  them  and  leave  them  in  spiritual  darkness,  without  a  praver, 
or  an  effort  in  their  behalf. 

Thus  far  I  have  based  my  hope  and  my  argument  on  condi- 
tions now  existing  in  the  mission  field,  from  a  mere  business 
stand-point — so  many  men,  so  much  i.^oney  expended,  and  results 
measured  bv  the  means  employed.  But  I  am  sure  there  is  a 
higher  view  and  a  grander  hope,  which  no  human  arithmetic  can 
compute.  The  promise  of  the  Father  to  his  dear  Son  is  all-em- 
bracing. "  I  will  give  thee  the  heathen  for  thine  inheritance,  and 
the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for  thy  possession."  With  this 
sure  promise  and  covenant  in  mind,  we  must  not  overestimate  the 
importance  of  human  agencies,  nor  lean  too  confidently  on  the 
arm  of  flesh.  We  mu^t  not  be  discouraged  nor  lose  heart  when  our 
best  efforts  fail,  but  look  up  and  on  with  steady  gaze  and  strong 
faith  for  the  fulfillment  of  the  promise.  In-  our  methods  of  teach- 
ing is  there  not  great  danger  of  undervaluing  or  quite  overlook- 
ing the  divine  element,  whether  at  home  or  abroad,  for  the  work 
is  one  and  the  same,  call  it  by  what  name  you  will.  When  men, 
pricked  in  their  hearts  and  convinced  of  sin,  came  to  the  Apostles^ 
crying  out  almost  in  despair,  "  Men  and  brethren,  what  shall  we 
do?"  the  instant  reply  was,  "Arise  and  be  baptized  and  wash 
away  your  sins."  If  such  men  came  to  us  in  this  day  of  grace 
asking  such  questions,  would  we  not  put  them  on  long  probation, 
and  counsel  them  to  wait  for  further  instruction  and  clearer 
knowledge,  asking  them  to  do.  without  the  strengthening  and  en- 
lightening of  the  means  of  grace,  and  outside  of  the  Church,  what 
only  can  be  done  by  the  help  of  divine  aids?  When  the  net  w-as  let 
down  for  a  draught  by  the  command  of  Christ,  it  was  found  to 
contain  fishes  good  and  bad,  and  the  separation  was  not  to  be 
made  till  the  shore  was  reached.  Let  the  Church  of  to-day  copy 
such  an  example,  and  my  word  for  it,  men  will  flock  to  her  open 
doors,  not  in  feeble  little  bands,  but  in  great,  thronging  multi- 
tudes. 

Bid  them  come  in  their  weaknesses  and  failings,  helping  them 
and  holding  them  up,  if  they  are  willing  to  take  but  a  single  step,. 


BISHOP  OF  NEW  JERSEY.  35^ 

and  that  their  first  step  in  Christian  believing  and  Christian  liv- 
ing, not  demanding  at  the  ontset  perfect  faith  and  perfect  knowl- 
edge, leaving  something  for  the  future  and  for  the  grace 
of  Grod  to  do,  presenting  the  Church,  not  as  a  snug  harbor 
for  the  saints,  but  as  a  place  of  refuge  for  the  sin-sick  and  weary. 
Bid  men  come,  and  forbid  them  not,  if  they  are  willing  to  make 
an  honest  effort.  I  am  not  pleading  for  a  lower  standard  of 
Christian  duty.  I  long  to  see  the  Church,  both  at  home  and 
abroad,  more  grandly  fulfilling  her  mission  in  the  world,  touching 
the  lives  of  men  at  every  point  of  contact  and  molding  for 
the  service  of  the  Master  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men.  I  am 
waiting  and  longing  for  another  Pentecost,  an  out-pouring  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  when  the  eyes  of  Jews  and  Gentiles  shall  be  opened 
to  see  the  wondrous  things  of  Clod's  law.  When  that  day  comes 
the  question  we  are  considering  will  be  fully  answered.  The 
heathen  will  be  safely  folded  in  the  Kingdom  and  Church  of 
Christ,  partakers  of  the  benefits  of  His  Cross  and  Passion  and  the 
glorious  hope  of  the  Resurrection.  The  little  company  of  com- 
municants gathered  out  of  the  great  company  of  the  unbelieving- 
in  China,  Japan,  and  Africa,  will  be  multiplied  by  thousands. 
The  Gospel  must  first  be  preached  to  all  nations,  before  the  end 
comes.  Let  us  see  to  it  that  we  are  doing  our  full  share,  pre- 
paring the  way,  and  so  hastening  the  day  of  the  Lord's  coming. 

The  imperative  limitations  of  this  paper  have  left  me  no 
leisure  to  speak  on  one  aspect  of  this  subject  which  yet  is  of 
primary  importance.  One  cannot  conceive  of  the  development 
of  Autonomous  Churches  in  heathen  lands  apart  from  the  ques- 
tion of  those  religions  which  the  Church  finds  when  it  goes  to 
heathen  lands.  They  are  Pagan  religions;  but,  none  the  less, 
some  of  them  enshrine  great  truths;  and  the  example  of  St. 
Paul,  as  recorded  in  the  seventh  chapter  of  the  book  of  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,  may  well  be  borne  in  mind  by  the  missionary 
of  the  Church  to-day.  With  a  fine  intuition,  do  we  say?  nay, 
rather,  with  a  divine  inspiration,  he  seized  upon  a  truth  which 
he  and  the  worshipers  on  Mars  Hill  held  in  common;  and,  from 
that,  built  up  his  irresistible  argument.  It  is  a  lesson  which  the 
Christian  missionary  sorely  needs  to-day;  for  there  is  an  endur- 
ing witness  in  man,  speaking,  often,  in  and  through  darkened  rites, 
and  Pagan  speech.  It  is  the  witness  of  the  divine  in  the  human 
heart!  To  that  Christ  spoke,  and  so,  if  we  would  build  up  His 
Church  in  Pagan  lands,  must  we! 


36 


UNIAT  CHURCHES  IN  OUR  OWN  COUNTRY. 


WEDNESDAY  AFTEENOON. 

Fourth  Topic. 

THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  UNIAT  CHUECHES  IN  OUE 
OWN  COUNTEY.  i 

General  Pcqnr. 

The  Right  Rev.  Arthur  C.  A.  Hall,  D.  D., 

BISHOP  OF  VERMONT, 

The  topic  on  whicli  I  am  bidden  to  write  a  short  paper,  by 
way  of  opening  a  discussion,  is  entitled  "The  Development  of 
ITniat  Churches  in  Our  Own  Country."  Under  this  I  take  it  for 
o-ranted  it  is  specially  intended  to  consider  such  a  request  as  that 
presented  to  our  House  of  Bishops,  by  Bishop  Kozlowski,  of  the 
Independent  Polish  Catholic  Church,  that  he  and  his  Church  may 
be  recognized  as  in  full  communion  with  us,  while  they  retain 
service  books  in  their  own  language  and  with  their  own  rites,  the 
Bishop  exercising  jurisdiction  over  Polish  clergy  and  lay-people 
wherever  they  may  be  in  this  country,  in  entire  independence  of 
our  diocesan  lines. 

Bishop  Kozlowski  and  his  friends  claim  such  recognition  on 
the  ground  of  his  consecration  by  Old  Catholic  Bishops  in  Europe, 
whose  orders  are  imquestioned,  and  on  the  ground  that  he  and 
his  followers  comply  with  the  terms  of  the  Chicago-Lambeth 
^•'  quadrilateral," — accepting  the  Scriptures  as  the  supreme  au- 
thority, the  Apostles'  and  Nicene  Creeds  as  a  sufficient  statement 
of  Christian  belief,  administering  the  two  great  Sacraments  of 
Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper  according  to  Christ's  institu- 
tion, and  possessing  the  Historic  Episcopate. 

1.  Now  first  of  all  I  feel  bound  to  renew  the  protest  (which  I 
have  entered  on  previous  occasions)  against  the  common  misin- 
terpretation of  the  Chicago-Lambeth  quadrilateral,  which  crops 
up  continually  in  reference  to  various  schemes  for  reunion.  The 
acceptance  of  the  four  points  was  laid  down,  not  as  a  maximum 
beyond  which  nothing  more  should  be  required  for  intercom- 
munion, but  as  an  irreducible  minimum,  about  which  there  must 
be  agreement  before  there  could  be  any  useful  discussion  of  minor 
points  of  difference.  The  Eeport  of  the  Committee  on  Christian 
Unity,  adopted  by  the  American  House  of  Bishops  in  the  Gen- 
eral Convention  of  1886,  speaks  of  these  four  conditions  "  as  in- 
herent parts  of  the  sacred  deposit  ...  of  Christian  Faith  and 
Order  committed  by  Christ  and  His  Apostles  to  the  Church  unto 
the  end  of  the  world,  .  .  .  and  therefore  as  essential  to  the  resto- 
ration of  unity  among  the  divided  branches  of  Christendom."* 
*"  .Journal  of  General  Convention,"  1886,  pp.  79,  80. 


BISHOP  OF  VERMONT.  37 

In  the  resolution  of  the  Lambeth  Conference  of  1888,  and  in 
the  encyclical  letter,  these  four  conditions  are  spoken  of  as 
^'  articles  which  supply  a  basis  on  which  ap])roach  may  be,  by 
God's  blessing,  made  towards  Home  Eeunion."* 

It  evidently  was  the  intention  of  the  Bishops  both  at  Chicago 
and  at  Lambeth  to  reduce  points  of  difference  as  far  as  possible, 
and  to  emphasize  with  all  clearness  the  necessary  fundamental 
conditions  of  union;  but  they  certainly  did  not  pledge  themselves 
nor  the  Chnrch  to  admit  at  once  to  full  intercommunion  any  re- 
ligious body  which  might  express  its  acceptance  of  these  funda- 
mental conditions,  some  of  them,  like  "  The  Historic  Episcopate," 
certainly  open  to  divers  interpretations. 

2.  This  leads  to  the  second  point  that  I  would  emphasize. 
*'  The  Historic  Episcopate,  locally  adapted  in  the  methods  of  its 
administration  to  the  varying  needs  of  the  nations  and  peoples 
called  of  God  into  the  Unity  of  His  Church,"  whatever  adaptation 
it  may  have  been  intended  to  cover,  cannot  commit  us  to  a  prac- 
tice unhistorical  and  un-Catholic — of  overlapping  systems  of 
Episcopal  jurisdiction,  a  sort  of  Episcopalianized  Congregation- 
alism on  a  large  scale!  The  primitive  and  Catholic  idea  of  the 
Episcopate  is  not  only  that  E]  '  copal  ordination  provides  a  line 
of  duly  commissioned  ministers;  but  that  Episcopal  government 
furnishes  a  center  of  unity  for  the  Christian  Church.  It  is  not 
the  fact  of  having  chief  ministers  called  Bishops,  nor  even  of 
such  Bishops  being  able  to  trace  their  commission  in  due  succes- 
sion to  the  Apostles,  that  constitutes  the  Historic  Episcopate. 
According  to  the  primitive  and  Catholic  idea,  the  Bishop  is  the 
chief  pastor  within  a  certain  district,  ideally  of  all  Christian 
people,  certainly  of  all  who  are  in  communion  with  him.  He  is 
thus  the  center  of  unity  for  his  own  flock,  and  the  link  binding 
them_  to  the  wider  communion  of  the  national,  and  through  this 
to  the  universal  Church. 

"  A  single  Bishop  to  each  Diocese,  and  a  single  Diocese  to 
each  Bishop"  simis  up  the  ancient  rule.f  (The  position  of  Co- 
adjutors or  Suffragans,  who  have  a  delegated  authority,  is  not  in 
question.)     This  is  how  St.  Cyprian  puts  it: 

"  But  one  Bishop  in  a  Church  at  a  time,  and  one  judge  as  the 
vicegerent  of  Christ. "$ 

The  rule,  and  its  "  great  end  and  design,  to  prevent  schism  and 
preserve  the  peace  and  unity  of  the  Church,"  is  fully  discussed  by 
Bingham  in  his  "  Antiquities,"§  also  by  Bishop  Bilson  in  "  The 
Perpetual  Government  of  the  Christian  Church."!]  Both  refer  to 
the  eighth  canon  of  the  Xicene  Council  which,  in  providing  for 

*  Davidson's  "Reports  of  the  Lambeth  Conferences,"  pp.  272,  288,334, 
336. 

f  Dictionary  of  Christian  Antiquities,  "  Bishop." 

iBk.  II.,  eh,  xiii. 

§  "  Ad  Cornelium,"  Ep.  lix.  6. 

II  Ch.  XIII. 


33  UNIAT  CHURCHES  IN  OUK  OWN  COUNTRY. 

the    return    and    reconciliation    of    Xovatian    Bishops,    expressly 
ffuards  against  the  anomaly  of  two  Bishops  in  one  city.=^ 

Thi^  fu^ain  is  a  principle  of  wide  application  which  seems  to  be 
frequeiitlv  lost  sioht  of.  It  is  not  the  fact  of  a  person  being  m 
Episcopal'  orders  Vhich  constitutes  him  a  judge  m  questions  of 
discipline  or  qualifies  him  for  the  office  of  Visitor  to  a  Religious 
Communitv,  or  empowers  him  to  grant  dispensations,  or  perform 
rite';  of  benediction.  The  authority  not  of  a  Bishop,  but  ot  th& 
Bishop  the  persona  ecdesm  in  that  district,  is  required  for  such 
purposes.  To  avoid  confusion  of  ideals  it  would  seem  to  me  better 
under  ordinary  circumstances,  and  where  the  ministry  of  a  Bishop 
is  not  absolutely  required,  that  a  Presbyter  should  be  commis- 
sioned by  the  Diocesan  to  act  for  him  in  such  cases  when,  he  is 
unable  to  act  in  person,  rather  than  that  another  Bishop  should 
seem  to  be  acting  on  the  inherent  authority  of  his  Episcopal 
office,  instead  of  as  a  mere  delegate  of  the  Diocesan,  from 
whom  alone  he  can  receive  any  commission  for  really  Episcopal 

acts.  . 

3.  Historical  precedents  are  sometimes  pleaded  for  overlapping 
jurisdictions.  But  examination  of  the  cases  cited  show  the  con- 
tention to  be  really  worthless. 

(a)  The  supposed  existence,  with  apostolic  sanction,  of  a 
Jewish  and  a  Gentile  Church  at  Eome  and  Antioch,  each  with  its 
own  Bishop,  has  no  historical  proof.  Bishop  Pearson,  having  once- 
held  the  theory,  afterwards  abandoned  it.f  The  supposition  is 
extremely  improbable,  seeing  that  it  is  clean  contrary  to  constant 
Pauline  teaching,  e.  g.,  in  the  Epistles  to  the  Ephesians  and  the 
Colossians.  How  would  the  proposal  for  separate  ecclesiastical 
organizations  for  men  of  different  race,  or  color,  or  language,  have 
struck  the  Apostle  who  declared  that  in  Christ  and  His  Body 
"there  is  neither  Greek  nor  Jew,  circumcision  nor  uncircum- 
cision.  Barbarian,  Scythian,  bond  nor  free  "  ?  (Poles,  I  suppose, 
might  very  well  be  a  gloss,  if  not  a  marginal  reading,  for 
"  Scythians.") 

As  Bishop  Gore  says  in  his  "  Exposition  of  the  Epistle  to  the- 
Ephesians,!  "  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  now  popular 
principle  of  the  free  voluntary  association  of  Christians  in  so- 
cieties organized  to  suit  varying  phases  of  taste  is  destructive  of 
the  moral  discipline  intended  for  us.  It  was  the  obligation  to 
belong  to  one  body  which  was  intended  as  the  restraint  on  the 
prejudices  and  eccentricities  of  race,  classes,  and  individuals.  If 
Greeks,  Italians,  and  Englishmen  are  to  be  content  to  belong  to 
different  Churches;  if  among  ourselves  we  are  to  have  one  Church 
for  the  well-to-do  and  another  for  'labor';  .  .  .  where  does  the 
i\Ged  come  in   for  the  forbearance  and  long-suffering,   and  hu- 

*  See  Bright's  "  Notes  on  the  Canons  of  the  First  Four  General  Councils," 
p.  32. 
+  Bingham,  Vol.  I.  p.  156. 
JP.  162. 


BISHOP  OF  VERMONT.  39 

iiiilitv  on  which  St.  Paul  insists  as  the  necessary  virtues  of  the 
■one  hody?  " 

(b)  The  hiter  cases  (in  the  fourth  century)  where  proposals 
were  made  for  a  joint  Episcopacy,  as  hy  the  Xorth  African 
Bishops  to  end  the  Donatist  schism,  and  by  St.  Meletius  to  end 
the  tangle  of  the  Eustathian  schism  at  Antioch,  are  irrevelant  for 
our  purpose.  As  seeming  exceptions  they  really  bear  witness  to 
the  rule  of  a  single  episcopate  jurisdiction  over  all  Christian 
people  within  a  given  area.  The  Catholic  Bishops  offered  as  a 
temporary  expedient  to  share  their  Sees  with  the  Donatists.  Mel- 
etius implored  Paulinus  to  "  join  their  flocks,  and  dispute  no 
longer  about  primacy  and  government,  but  feed  the  sheep  in 
common  and  bestow  a  common  care  upon  them.'"*  Both  these 
offers  (neither  of  which  was  accepted  or  acted  upon)  differ  fun- 
damentally from  the  proposal  which  I  have  ventured  to  take  as  an 
illustration  of  a  "  Uniat  Church  "  in  our  country.  Both  in  Africa 
and  at  Antioch  what  was  proposed  was  a  merely  temporary  ex- 
pedient, devised  for  the  lifetime  of  the  existing  prelates.  Bishop 
Ivozlowski,  I  understand,  asks  for  a  permanent  arrangement;  cer- 
tainly this  would  be  the  object  of  any  similar  demand  for  Negro 
Bishops  for  Negro  congregations. 

4.  History,  then,  affords  no  sanction  for  the  establishment 
of  Uniat  Churches.  Nor  (it  is  important  to  note)  would  the 
position  we  are  asked  to  accord  to  Bishop  Kozlowski  and  the 
Poles  be  parallel  either  to  the  case  of  the  Old  Catholics  in 
Europe  or  to  so-called  Uniat  Churches  within  the  Eoman  Catholic 
■communion. 

(a)  The  Old  Catholics  in  Europe  are  forced,  or  consider  them- 
selves forced,  into  a  position  of  revolt  from  the  Church  of  the 
country  and  its  appointed  rulers,  by  the  denial  of  communion  and 
the  privileges  of  the  Church,  save  on  unlawful  and  un-Catholic 
terms.  Theirs,  they  claim,  is  a  case  of  justifiable  separation,  the 
sin  of  schism  resting  on  those  who  refuse  communion,  save  on 
unjustifiable  conditions. 

Bishop  Kozlowski's  own  plea  shows  that,  whatever  may  have 
been  the  mind  of  his  consecrators  (about  whose  "unfriendly" 
action  there  can  be  no  doubt),  he  at  any  rate  recognizes  our 
C*atholic  position,  or  he  would  not  seek  communion  with  us,  and 
that  we  are  not  seeking  to  impose  unlawful  conditions,  for  he 
claims  that  he  complies  therewith. 

(&)  On  the  other  hand  the  position  that  we  should  create  (if 
we  agreed  to  this  request)  would  be  entirely  different  from  that 
of  so-called  Uniat  Churches  within  the  Roman  Communion. 

(a)  Whatever  overlapping  of  Episcopal  jurisdiction  may  be  in- 
volved in  these  cases,  all  are  subject  to  the  central  and  supreme 
authority  of  the  Pope,  and  are  thus  held  in  a  certain  unity.  The 
existence  of  Uniat  Churches  is  only  one  instance  of  the  overriding 

*Bingliam.  Vol.  I.,  p.  154,  Puller's  "  Primitive  Saiutsand  the  See  of  Rome  " 
<3d  ed.),  pp.  338-341. 


40  UNIAT  CHURCHES  IN  OUR  OWN  COUNTRY. 

by  the  Pope  of  the  legitimate  authority  of  the  Bishops,  who  are 
practically  reduced  to  the  position  of  his  vicars.  Being  without 
papal,  or  "even  metropolitan,  jurisdiction,  and  with  the  Indepen- 
dent Polish  Catholics  neither  represented  in,  nor  subject  to,  the 
General  Convention,  such  an  arrangement  as  is  proposed  seems 
absolutely  impracticable  for  us. 

(^)  So  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  discover,  the  features  which 
are  common  to  all  Eoman  Uniat  Churches  are  the  privilege  of  a 
married  secular  clergy,  and  the  use  of  their  own  service  books. 
The  Ruthenians  (who,  I  suppose,  correspond  most  closely  with 
our  Poles)  use  a  Greek  liturgy  translated  into  Old  Slavonic. 
The  Uniat  Greeks  in  Italy  are  subject  to  the  Bishop  of  the 
Diocese,  with  a  Vicar-General  of  their  own.  and  for  purposes  of 
ordination  a  Bishop  of  the  Greek  Rite  residing  in  the  Seminary.* 

5.  There  are  some  practical  questions  that  must  certainly  be 
faced,  before  consent  could  be  given  to  such  a  proposal  as  that 
made  by  Bishop  Kozlowski. 

(a)  His  case  could  not  stand  alone.  A  concession  to  the  Poles 
would  almost  certainly  lead  to  a  demand  on  the  part  of  the 
Negroes  for  a  similar  arrangement,  wiiereby  their  congregations 
should  have  a  Negro  Bishop  with  separate  jurisdiction  over  people 
of  their  race,  independent  of  ordinary  diocesan  lines.  Differ- 
ence in  color  would  certainly  be  as  strong  a  ground  for  the  claim 
as  difference  in  language.  Nor  would  it  end  here.  When  race  and 
color  had  been  provided  for,  difference  of  temperament  would  put 
in  its  plea  for  separate  recognition. 

(b)  Another  very  practical  matter.  So  far  as  I  have  been  in- 
formed Bishop  Kozlowski  does  not  yet  administer  the  Sacrament 
of  our  Lord's  body  and  blood  in  both  kinds,  though  one  of  his 
friends  told  me  he  was  looking  towards  this.f  This  is  a  ques- 
tion about  which  we  cannot  be  content  with  any  sort  of  doubt 
or  hesitation. 

"  The  two  Sacraments  ordained  by  Christ  Himself,  ministered 
with  unfailing  use  of  Christ's  words  of  institution,  and  of  the 
elements  ordained  by  Him,"  is  one  of  the  conditions  we  lay  down 
as  a  basis  for  reunion.  We  should  absolutely  stultify  our  whole 
position,  if  we  were  to  weaken  on  this  requirement.  Moreover 
we  should  be  estopped  for  what,  in  New  England  at  any  rate,  is 
one  great  duty  of  the  Church, — making  our  protest  against  the 
violation  of  our  Lord's  institution  by  the  substitution  in  the 
Lord's  Supper  (quite  common  among  Protestant  bodies)  of  other 
liquids  for  wine.  How  can  we  insist  on  real  wine  with  these 
people,  if  in  the  case  of  Poles  or  other  revolting  Romans  we  sanc- 
tion the  withdrawal  of  the  cup  from  the  people? 

(c)  There  are  other  practices,  such  as  the  Reservation  of  the 
Sacrament  for  the  purpose  of  worship  (with  the  accompanying 

*  Addis  and  Arnold's  Catliolic  Dictionary. 

t  Since  reading  this  paper  I  have  been  told  that  Bishop  Kozlowski  ad- 
ministers Holy  Communion  in  both  kinds  to  some  of  his  people,  to  others  not. 


BISHOP  OF  VKRMONT. 


41 


rites  of  Exposition  and  Bonodiction).  and  the  invocation  of  the 
Saints  in  the  public  and  authorized  worship  of  the  Church,  about 
which  there  mav  be  doubts  as  to  our  right  to  refuse  communion 
to  those  who  cling  to  such  devotions.  For  myself,  whatever  de- 
fense and  explanation  may  be  offered,  in  view  of  the  practical 
effect  of  such  customs  on  the  minds  of  the  mass  of  men,  I  should 
not  hesitate  at  least  to  urge  most  strongly  a  return  to  really 
Catholic  and  primitive  usage  on  both  matters.  We  should  be 
bound,  moreover,  to  consider  the  effect  on  our  own  people  of 
countenancing  these  practices  in  those  with  whom  we  were  in  full 
communion.  Some,  of  course,  would  be  grievously  scandalized. 
A  certain  section,  I  fear,  may  be  half-unconsciously  moved  to  ad- 
vocate the  acceptance  of  the  Independent  Polish  Catholic  Church 
by  the  feeling  that  they  would  be  strengthened  in  their  attempt 
to  introduce  these  practices  amongst  ourselves  by  being  able  to 
point  to  their  sanction  among  others  with  whom  we  are  in  com- 
munion. If  the  Poles  gained  (which  I  suspect  has  been  one  not 
unimportant  consideration)  a  sanction  for  some  of  their  clergy 
to  marrv,  and  we  seemed,  at  any  rate,  to  authorize  prayers  to  the 
saints  and  reservation  of  the  sacrament  for  the  purpose  of  wor- 
ship, these  would  hardly  be  gains  sufficient  to  compensate  for 
the  sacrifice  of  the  principle  of  diocesan  episcopaey.' 

6.  "Is  this  all  you  have  to  say?"  it  may  be  asked.  "Are  we 
to  reply  with  a  simple  non  possumus  to  the  petition  of  a  bishop 
claiming  to  represent  eighty  thousand  of  his  fellow-countrymen 
who  are  making  their  home  in  our  land,  who  are  in  revolt  (not 
perhaps  verv  intelligent  revolt)  against  Eoman  tyranny,  and  ask 
Christian  fellowship  from  you  who  claim  to  be  Catholic  while  not 
Eoman?  Are  your  ideas  of  becoming  the  Church  of  the  Recon- 
ciliation mere  empty  boasts?" 

No,  I  should  say.  The  reconciliation  must  be  on  Catholic  prin- 
ciples; but,  provided  these  are  really  preserved,  we  are  willing, 
I  trust,  to  make  generous  provision  for  persons  of  divers  races 
and  tongues  and  temperaments.  For  instance,  wide  liberty 
should  be  allowed  as  to  the  use  of  service  books  and  forms  of 
worship,  with  of  course  the  language  in  which  the  people  are 
accustomed  to  speak  and  think;  while,  as  regards  organization, 
provision  might  be  made  in  a  diocese  where  a  large  number  of 
these  people  were  settled  for  a  suffragan  bishop  of  their  own 
nation  and  tongue,  who  would  be  the  Diocesan's  lieutenant, 
recognized  in  the  diocese  as  such,  and  he  could  be  employed  for 
episcopal  ministrations  by  other  Diocesans  who  might  have  similar 
need. 

The  amendments  needed  in  the  canons  for  such  an  arrangement 
might  well  be  justified  by  the  extraordinary  conditions  which  exist 
in  our  country  as  we  enter  on  this  twentieth  century — conditions 
as  to  the  intermixture  of  races  within  a  single  nation  or  even 
state,  unknown,  I  imagine,  to  any  previous  age  of  the  Christian 
Church. 


42  PROTESTANT    COMMUNIONS. 


THUESDAY  MOEN^ING. 
Fifth   Topic. 

THE    AT'JITITDE     OF    OUR     CHURCH     TOWARD     THE 
PROTESTANT  COMMUNIONS  AROUND  HER. 

(a)    POINTS  OF  UNION  AND  THEIR  EMPHASIS. 

First  Paper. 

The  Right  Rev.  Thomas  Frank  Gailor,  D.D., 

BISHOP  OF  TENNESSEE. 

I  quite  understand  that  the  members  of  the  Conference  need  no 
lecture  from  me  on  the  attitude  of  this  Church  towards  the  com- 
munions of  Protestant  people  around  us,  for  we  are  all  familiar 
with  the  facts  and  principles  that  must  influence  their  Judgment 
on  this  most  important  subject.  This  paper,  therefore,  is  pre- 
sented, in  order  to  furnish  a  basis  of  discussion  and  to  state,  if 
possible,  the  salient  points  in  such  order  and  completeness  as 
may  facilitate  debate.  It  is  not  a  sermon  nor  a  lecture,  but  a 
•statement  of  facts  and  principles  from  the  point  of  view  of  per- 
sonal experience.  Inevitably,  it  seems  to  me,  a  Churchman's  esti- 
mate of  Protestantism  must  be  largely  determined  by  what  he 
himself  has  seen  and  known :  and,  at  the  outset,  I  am  glad  to  say 
that  my  work  m  the  ministry  has  helped  m.e  to  a  wider,  and,  I 
hope,  a  fairer  view  of  the  religious  faith  and  the  religious  pur- 
pose of  our  Christian  neighbors. 

It  was  the  great  Dean  of  St.  Paul's  who  said,  "  The  Episcopate 
represents  the  Christianity  of  history;  it  represents  further  the 
Christianity  of  the  general  Church,  as  distinguished  from 
the  special  opinions  and  views  of  doctrine  which  assert  their 
•claims  in  it."  And  surely  it  is  characteristic  of  its  divine  insti- 
tution that  the  responsibilities  of  the  Episcopate  tend  to  widen 
our  horizon  and  make  it  increasingly  difficult  to  use  the  "  uni- 
versal affirmative,"  as  Whately  calls  it,  in  our  public  utterances. 
I  speak  of  course  for  myself;  but  I  am  certain  that  there  are  not 
a  few  who  will  agree  with  me  when  I  say  that  there  are  real 
convictions  of  mine  which  have  been  re-enforced  and  deepened  by 
-experience,  and  yet  have  lost,  by  the  larger  responsibilities  of  life, 
the  effect  of  negative  inference.  What  I  mean  is  that  the  old 
•convictions  have  not  been  weakened,  but  only  strengthened;  and 
yet  the  inferences  that  I  used  to  draw  so  readily  in  condemna- 
tion of  those  who  differed  with  me  do  not  appear  to-day  quite 
so  sure.  I  count  it  a  blessed  thing  that  I  have  learned  to  tolerate 
and  even  to  understand  the  positions  of  men  who  once  seemed 
to  me  to  be  enemies  of  the  Christian  faith,  and  that,  not  because 


BISHOP  OF  TENNESSEE.  43 

my  own  vision  of  trntli  and  obligation  has  diminished  in  the 
slightest  degree,  but  because  I  realize  now  more  keenly  that  truth 
is  an  ocean  without  shore,  and  that  it  is  easier  to  know  the  truth 
than  to  define  accurately  what  is  not  the  truth.  I  have  come  to 
distrust  denials  and  to  be  chary  of  definitions  in  religious  belief. 
Of  course  this  is  an  old  story  to  the  members  of  this  house. 
'The  four  great  heresies  of  the  conciliar  period  were  the  denials 
of  Arius,  Apollinarius,  Xestorius,  and  Eutyches;  and  there  is 
only  one  metaphysical  definition  in  the  great  creed. 

I  beg  your  indulgence  while  I  state  my  first  impressions  of  Pro- 
testanfism.     I  was  born  in  the  Church;  I  was  brought  up  a  High 
Churchman,  so  high  that  I  did  not  believe  in  the  validity  of  lay- 
baptism.     My  acquaintance  with  Protestant  sectarianism  in  my 
l)oyhood  and' early  ministry  did  not  encourage  any  thought  of  the 
reunion  of  Christendom.    I  found  all  the  sects,  the  Presbyterians 
alone  excepted  (I  never  came  into  contact  with  Unitarians  until  I 
went  to  college),  narrow,  bitter,  intolerant,  and  even  vulgar  in 
their  views  of  "religion  and  their  attitude  toward  the  Church.    The 
Baptists  were   afflicted   with  a   colossal   egotism,   and  their  con- 
verted membership  was  only  another  name  for  Pharisaical  bigotry 
that  put  the  arrogance  of  the  Romanist  to  shame.     The  Method- 
ists, while  insisting  that  no  man  who  could  not  tell  the  exact 
moment  of  his  change  of  heart  could  escape  hell,  seemed  to  carry 
with  them  always  a  deadly  dislike  of  what  they  called  the  "  King's 
Church,"  and  scoft'ed  at  "the  place  we  gave  to  Baptism  and  the 
Holy  Communion.     The  other  sects, — and  I  knew  most  of  them 
in  Tennessee, — from  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian,   one   of  our 
foremost   denominations,  and  the   Associated   Reformed   Presby- 
terians to  the  T.   S.   I.   T.   S.   P.   B.— "  Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit- 
Predestinarian-Baptists," — regarded  us,  if  they  thought  at  all  on 
the   subject,   as  pseudo-Roman  Catholics   and  indifferent  to  the 
vital  elements  of  the  Gospel,  and  in  some  respects  that  attitude 
has  not  greatly  changed.     Only  four  weeks  ago  a  young  lawyer 
came  to  me  and  said,  "  I  have  been  a  disciple  of  Herbert  Spencer; 
but  my  spiritual  nature  has  recoiled  from  the  nescience  of  his  con- 
clusions.    I  believe  in  God,  as  revealed  in  Christ,  and  my  whole 
being  responds  to  that  appeal.     Yet  I  cannot  say  that  I  have 
experienced  a  change  of  heart  in  any  emotional  way.     Have  you 
a  place  for  me?     My  friends  in  the  other  denominations  tell  me 
that  I  cannot  join  the  Church  until  I  am  entirely  changed  in 
heart  and  life.     You  see,  I  am  not  changed  entirely,  but  I  want 
to  change,  and  I  want  the  Church  to  help  me  change,  but  the 
Church  holds  out  no  hope  to  a  man  like  me."     In  Memphis,  last 
spring,  I  listened  to  a  very  striking  and  moving  address  by  Gen- 
eral Booth,  filled  with  stories  that  were  pathetic  and  even  thrill- 
ing; but  when  he  reached  his  climax  and  said,  "  Friends,  Jesus 
shed  His  blood  to  pay  the  price,  and  He  bought  from  God  enough 
salvation  to  go  round,"  I  felt  that  his  view  of  religion  was  dif- 
ferent from  mine.     So  I  say  that  Protestantism  in  the  Southern 


44  PROTESTANT   COMMUNIONS. 

States  is  not  to  me  a  cheerful  or  rational  presentation  of  Chris- 
tianity. It  too  often  exhibits  itself  as  a  "  mutual  admiration 
society"  of  converted  membership. 

And  yet  my  brethren,  in  spite  of  all  this,  I  am  not  as  quick 
to  speak  of  heresy  and  schism  as  I  used  to  be.  There  are  great, 
tremendous  facts  that  give  me  pause. 

(1)   That  kind  of  preaching  which  seems  so  crude,  so  partial, 
so  uncatholic  to  me,  is  to-day  lifting  men  and  women  by  the 
thousand  from  the  mire  of  sin  and  vice  mto  the  power  and 
purity  of  a  new  life  in  Jesus  Christ.     The  instances  of  real  and 
lasting  reformation  are  too  numerous  in  every  town  and  city  of 
our  la'nd  for  us  to  say  that  the  effects  of  this  emotional  religion 
are  transient  and  unreliable.     "  The  Kingdom  of  God  is  not  in 
word,  but  in  power,"  and  we  dare  not   question   the  power  of 
Protestant  Christianity,  which  reveals  itself  on  every  side  of  us 
in  the  conviction  of  the  mystery  and  enormity  of  sin,  in  the 
reality  of  positive  goodness,  in  the  recovery  from  the  delusions 
and  waste  of  evil,  in  the  work  for  moral  elevation  and  improve- 
ment, in  the  lives  of  charity  and  sacrifice,  and  humble  devotion 
to  the  personal  dominion  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.    Protestantism 
is  no  dead  nor  dying  force  in  the  world.     On  the  contrary,^  it  is 
steadily  increasing,  both  in  material  strength  and  spiritual  influ- 
ence.    The  Methodists  of  the  United  States  raised  a  fund  of  ten 
millions  of  dollars  for  educational  work  within  the  past  few  years; 
we  have  seen  the  richest  university  in  the  West  grow  up  in  the 
last  ten  years  under  Baptist  control  and  for  the  aggrandizement 
of  the  Baptist  Church.     Nearly  all  the  leading  educational  insti- 
tutions of  the  country.  Harvard,  Yale,  and  Princeton,  are  Protes- 
tant in  their  tone  and  influence.     The  religious  life  of  this  coun- 
try is  built  up  on  the  principle  that  the  individual  soul  through 
Christ  is  in  touch  with  God,  and  that  the  corporate  life  of  Chris- 
tianity grows  out  of  and  depends  on  the  life  and  experience  of 
the  individual  Christian — and  that  is  a  Protestant  principle,  or, 
rather,  that  is  the  great  and  fruitful  principle  for  which,  in  the 
last  analysis,  Protestantism  stands.     As  long  as  the  Bible  is  the 
charter  of  Christianity,  people  who  are  bred  upon  the  Bible  will 
demand  the  rights  of  the  individual  in  religion;  and  Protestants 
have  been  bred  upon  the  Bible,  and  there  are  no  biblical  students 
to-day  who  are  the.  equal  in  scholarship  of  the  leaders  in  the 
Protestant  world.     I  do  not  believe  that  America  is  in  any  danger 
of  lapsing  into  Romanism.     That  system,  to  be  sure,  is  persist- 
ent and  unscrupulous,  an  organized  force  in  politics,  subsidizing 
newspapers,  bringing  to  bear  all  the  craft  and  machinery  created 
by  the   experience  of  a  thousand  years — but   its  gains   are  not 
commensurate  with  its  expenditures"  of  effort.     It  cannot  hold  its 
own  immigrants.     The  appointment  of  the  new  Cardinal  in  Eng- 
land, and  the  very  election  of  the  Pope  show,  however  carefully 
the  inside  workings  are  guarded,  that  there  is  a  growing  feeling 
of  restiveness  under  the  Italian  domination.     No  man,  it  seems 


BISHOP  OF  TENNESSEE.  45 

to  me,  can  read  the  lesson  of  Cuba,  Porto  Eico,  Mexico,  Brazil, 
and  the  Philippines,  re-enforced  by  conditions  in  France  and  Italy, 
without  realizing  that  Rome  does  not  begin  to  appeal  to-day  to 
the  spiritual  intelligence  of  the  world  as  a  prevailing  power  as 
it  did  fifty  years  ago.  When  it  comes  to  religion,  to  the  vital 
experience  of  individual  conviction,  this  country,  I  believe,  is 
increasingly  non-Roman. 

If  this  Church  wishes  to  come  closer  to  the  hearts  of  the  masses 
of  American  people  and  to  contribute  its  message  (for  surely  it 
has  a  message)  to  the  better  and  larger  understanding  of  Christ's 
truth,  where  it  will  be  heard  and  listened  to,  then  it  ought  to 
seek  a  better  understanding  with  those  Protestant  bodies  which 
comprise  among  their  adherents  nearly  forty  million  American 
citizens,  or  almost  one-half  of  our  entire  population,  and  which 
have  added  to  the  number  of  their  actual  communicants  nearly 
three  million  persons  in  the  last  four  years. 

The  Bishop  of  Rome  has  given  a  formal,  authoritative,  and  final 
verdict  (ex  cathedra,  and  from  his  standpoint  infallible  and  irre- 
formable)  that  our  orders  are  invalid,  and  our  sacramental  acts 
without  authority.  It  strikes  me  as  being  treason  to  every  tradi- 
tion of  our  history,  if  not  to  every  article  of  our  creed,  for  any 
priest  or  layman  of  this  Church  to  take  the  initiative  in  making 
concessions  and  adopting  practices  with  a  view  to  possible  reunion 
with  the  Church  of  Rome.  I  am  ready  to  make  every  allowance 
for  the  officious  and  intriguant  appeal  to  the  Pope,  from  a  few 
individuals  of  the  Established  Church  of  England  to  issue  a  pro- 
nouncement on  this  subject.  But  I  maintain  that  the  act  of  a 
bishop  of  a  Christian  church  who,  in  our  day  and  generation, 
would  permit  himself  to  go  through  the  form  of  a  deliberate  in- 
quiry and  then  publish  a  proclamation  that  the  whole  Church 
of  England,  with  all  its  atfiliated  branches,  is  cut  off  from  the 
true  body  of  Christ  and  is  apostate  from  the  faith,  has  presented 
a  spectacle  of  religious  fanaticism  unequaled  since  the  time  of 
Gregory  XIII.,  who  had  a  medal  struck  off  to  commemorate  the 
massacre  of  the  Huguenots  in  France.  In  an  age  like  ours,  when 
there  is  every  reason  for  Christians  to  come  together  for  the 
defense  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  faith,  I  cannot 
imagine  a  public  insult  to  a  great  body  of  Christian  people  more 
fatuous  and  insane  than  this.  My  hope  and  trust  are  that  the 
intelligent  masses  of  Roman  Catholic  people  do  not  at  heart  in- 
dorse the  policy  of  extreme  arrogance  and  intolerance  which  their 
ecclesiastical  leaders  seem  to  deem  necessary  for  the  maintenance 
of  their  prestige  and  importance.  The  authorities  of  the  Roman 
Church  have  ever  been  directors  and  rulers  rather  than  repre- 
sentatives of  their  people;  and,  although  they  may  try  to-day 
to  impress  the  imaginations  of  men  by  the  parade  of  organ- 
ized power  and  the  exaggeration  of  ecclesiastical  claims,  Ameri- 
can ideas,  and,  above  all,  the  American  public  school,  are 
making  it  impossible  for  their  laymen  to  follow  them  with  the 


^g  PROTESTANT    COMMUNIONS. 

same  blind  obedience  which  is  given  in  less  favored  countries. 
And  in  this  respect  Protestantism  is  the  reverse  of  Romanism; 
for  Protestant  leaders  do  express  and  represent  the  best  thought 
and  feeling  of  their  people.  While,  therefore,  the  Roman 
Catholic  laity  are  less  intolerant  than  their  bishops  and  cardinals, 
the  rank  and  file  of  Protestants  are  more  bigoted  than  their 
scholars  and  teachers;  in  short,  the  hope  of  the  reunion  of  Chris- 
tendom is  with  the  Roman  Catholic  people,  and  not  with  their 
leaders,  while  the  hope  of  reunion  with  Protestantism  is  with  its 

eminent  men.  .        . 

It  seems  worth  while,  then,  for  us  to  inquire  (1)  whether  there 
are  any  signs  in  our  day  of  a  willingness  on  the  part  of  our  Protes- 
tant brethren  to  come  to  a  better  understanding  with  us,  and 
(2)  whether  we  can  do  anything  to  help  on  that  better  under- 
standing. 

It  is  not  a  question  of  reunion;  that  is  a  contingency  so  remote 
that  it  is  hardly  worth  discussing.  What  Christians  have  to  do 
first  of  all  is  to  understand  one  another,  and  that  without  weak 
concessions,  or  strained  explanations,  or  "unreal  refinements  on 
the  obstinate  e\-idence  of  common  sense."  Dr.  Dollinger  was 
right  when  he  said  that  truth  is  better  than  union,  and  we  want 
no  union  that  ignores  differences  and  hides  them  under  am- 
biguities and  compromises.  Or,  as  I  heard  the  Bishop  of  Mis- 
souri say  once,  "  Farmers  are  always  better  neighbors  and  better 
friends  "when  they  keep  their  fences  up  and  their  stock  from 
roaming." 

But  there  are  signs  of  increased  good  feeling  and  of  the  sur- 
render of  prejudices  on  every  side  in  the  Protestant  world.  Take, 
for  example,  the  twenty  letters  from  distinguished  ministers  of 
Protestant  bodies  in  the  American  Church  Fevieiv  for  April,  1890, 
written  in  response  to  the  overture  of  the  Chicago-Lambeth  plat- 
form. Most  of  them  admit  the  historical  fact  of  the  Episcopate, 
but  demur  to  the  claim  of  its  Divine  appointment.  They  express 
doctrinal  differences  also,  many  of  them  objecting  to  the  Nicene 
Creed  as  being  too-  brief  and  incomplete  a  statement  of  faith; 
but  nothing  could  be  better  than  the  spirit  in  which  the  letters 
were  written  or  the  evident  sincerity  of  the  expressed  desire  for 
co-operation  and  concord.  So  also  Dr.  Sanday's  report  of  the 
Conference  at  Oxford  last  year  is  really  one  of  the  most  interest- 
ing and  reassuring  things  I  ever  read.  When  we  recall  some 
of  the  controversies  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries, 
it  does  seem  that  only  the  Spirit  of  God  could  have  made  such 
a  conference  with  such  candor  and  sympathetic  appreciation  of 
opposite  opinions  possible.  Really,  when  we  think  of  it,  it  is 
astonishing  how  much  agreement  there  is  among  Christians.  As 
Mr.  Gladstone  said,  "  There  are,  it  may  be,  upon  earth  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty  millions  of  professing  Christians;  there  is  no 
longer  one  fold  under  one  visible  Shepherd;  His  flock  is  broken 
up  into  scores,  it  may  be  hundreds,  of  sections.     These  sections 


BISHOP  OF  TENNESSEE.  47 

are  not  at  peace,  but  at  war;  each  makes  it  a  point  to  understand 
his  neighbors  not  in  the  best  sense,  but  in  the  worst.  But  they 
all  profess  the  Gospel,  and  what  is  the  Gospel?,  In  the  old- 
fashioned  mind  and  language  of  the  Church  it  is  expressed  as 
to  its  central  truths  in  very  few  and  brief  words;  it  lies  in  those 
doctrines  of  the  Trinity  and  the  'Incarnation  of  Christ,'  which 
it  cost  the  Christian  flock  in  their  first  four  centuries  such  tears, 
such  prayers,  such  questioning,  such  struggles  to  establish.  Since 
those  early  centuries  men  have  multiplied  upon  the  earth;  dis- 
integration within  the  Church,  which  was  an  accident  or  an  ex- 
ception, has  become  a  rule — a  final,  solid,  inexorable  fact,  sus- 
tained by  opinion,  law,  tendency,  and  the  usage  of  many  gen- 
erations. But,  with  all  this  segregation,  the  answer  to  the  ques- 
tion, 'What  is  the  Gospel?'  is  still  the  same,  with  exceptions 
so  slight  that  we  may  set  them  out  of  the  reckoning.  The  cen- 
tral truth  of  the  Gospel  lies  in  the  Trinity  and  the  Incarnation — 
in  the  God  that  made  us,  and  the  Saviour  that  redeemed  us. 
When  I  consider  what  human  nature  and  human  history  have 
been,  I  bow  my  head  before  this  mighty  moral  miracle,  this  mar- 
velous concurrence  evolved  from  the  heart  of  discord." 

And  he  might  have  added  to  this  common  acceptance  of  the 
facts  of  redemption  the  corresponding  fact  of  agreement  upon 
tlie  moral  life  and  moral  ideals  as  the  ultimate  test  of  faith,  the 
belief  in  the  power  and  beauty  of  the  distinctly  Christian  char- 
acter as  the  sign  and  witness  of  Christian  discipleship. 

Again,  I  have  already  referred  to  the  great  positive  element 
in  Protestantism  as  the  conviction  of  God's  immediate  cure  for, 
and  contact  with,  the  individual  believer.  This  is  the  solid  rock 
which  has  supported  Protestantism  through  all  prophecies  of 
failure  and  all  the  errors  and  extravagances  of  its  self-assertion. 
God  forbid  that  we  should  deny  the  truth  of  this  position.  In  its 
right  significance,  it  is  the  very  sheet-anchor  of  our  Christianity 
to-day.  But  as  Churchmen,  we  know  that  this  individualistic 
interpretation  of  Christianity  is  only  a  half  truth,  and  that  the 
failure  to  give  due  place  to  the  Church  and  the  sacraments  is 
bound  ultimately  and  inevitably  to  create  a  one-sided  and  narrow 
religion.  In  fact,  we  maintain  that  it  is  historically  true  that 
non-sacramental  theories  and  systems  have  failed  to  grasp  the 
full  meaning  of  the  Incarnation  and  have  tended  to  dwarf  the 
conception  of  God,  to  impoverish  worship  and  to  encourage  a 
Manichean,  melancholy,  contracted  Judgment  of  human  life.  I 
believe  that  this  can  be  demonstrated.  The  history  of  Protes- 
tantism bristles  with  illustrations  of  it. 

Now  one  sign  of  our  times  is  that  men  like  Salmond  and 
Milligan  and  Gordon  and  Fairbairn,  and  other  great  leaders  of 
Protestant  thought  are  realizing  this  fact.  Their  reverent  and 
scholarly  study  of  the  Incarnation,  to  the  interpretation  of  which 
they  have  contributed  some  of  the  greatest  books  of  our  time, 
has  impressed  them  anew  with  the   corporate  and   sacramental 


48  PEOTESTAXT    COMMCNIONS. 

character  of  Christianity,  and  they  are  making  yastly  more  than 
they  eyer  did  of  the  objectiye  and  historical  in  religion  and  wor- 
ship It  has  been  quite  a  rey elation  to  me,  although  my  audience 
may  be  familiar  with  the  fact,  to  find  how  catholic  and  historic 
much  of  modern  Presbyterian  literature  is,  and  there  is  hardly 
any  literature  that  stands  higher  in  learning  and  exact  scholar- 
ship. In  1868  the  Presbyterian  General  Assembly  replied  to 
the  inyitation  of  Pope  Pius  IX.,  maintaining  that  they  were  not 
out  of  the  communion  of  the  Catholic  Church,  since  they  ac- 
cepted and  belieyed  the  doctrinal  decisions  of  the  six  Ecumenical 
Councils  of  the  undiyided  Church,  and  only  rejected  certain  later 
innoyations.  (See  Professor  Shields  in  Brantford's  "Unity," 
etc.,  p.  83.)  .       .       . 

A  Baptist  minister  told  me  last  year  that  his  denomination  m 
the  Northern  States  is  slowly,  but  surely,  yielding  to  the  demands 
of  the  new  age.  An  incipient  ritualism,  he  declared,  is  making 
itself  manifest.  The  laymen  are  challenging  the  theory  and 
practice  of  close  communion.  Dr.  Whitsitt  and  his  co-laborers 
have  demolished  the  confidence  in  the  dogma  of  immersion  as  a 
sine  qua  non-  in  baptism,  and  last  spring  a  prominent  pastor  m 
Cleveland  preached  a  sermon  advocating  the  practice  of  infant 
baptism  on  the  groimd  that  the  children  of  Baptist  families  are 
straying  away  to  the  Episcopal  Church.  A  conservative  Presby- 
terian minister  said  to  me  a  short  time  ago,  "  I  am  glad  that  your 
people  are  agitating  the  change  of  name.  That  name  of  yours 
has  always  seemed  to  be  to  many  of  us  a  bar  to  reunion,  for 
really,  P.  E.  means  anti-Presbyterian,  and  of  course  we  could 
never  come  together  on  such  a  name  any  more  than  we  could 
expect  you  to  call  yourselves  Presbyterians.  Is  it  not  possible 
for  us  to  agree  on  some  uncontroversial  and  unpartisan  designa- 
tion ?  "  On  every  side  there  would  seem  to  be  among  intelligent 
and  learned  Protestants  an  increasing  respect  for  "  the  consist- 
ent conservatism  of  the  ancient  Church  amid  the  abounding 
unbelief  and  license  of  the  times." 

These  are  some  of  the  considerations  which  make  me  believe 
that  the  despairing  language  in  Mr.  Gladstone's  article,  which  I 
quoted  just  now,  is  not  true  for  our  day,  and  that  it  cannot  any 
longer  be  said,  at  least  of  the  leaders  of  the  Protestant  denomi- 
nations, that  "  they  make  it  a  point  to  understand  their  neighbors, 
not  in  the  best  sense,  but  in  the  worst." 

It  remains  finally  to  say  what,  if  anything,  we  can  do  to  hell) 
forward  a  better  understanding  with  our  Protestant  neighbors. 
Well,  here  is  a  case  where  a  right  spirit,  a  right  attitude  of  mind 
count  for  more  than  all  technical  concessions.  We  can  all  pray 
at  least  that  we  may  learn  to  be  more  generous  and  forbearing, 
more  distrustful  of  loud  assertions  and  narrow  claims,  more  ca- 
pable of  entering  into  the  ideas  of  others,  more  humble  and  more 
apt  to  believe  that  we  may  not  have  all  the  truth  to  ourselves. 
We    may  at    least    emphasize    the    positive    character    of    the 


BISHOP  OF  TENNESSEE, 


49 


Church's  teaching  and  be  chary  of  denials.    I  think  that  the  best 
brief   statement  of   the   Church's   distinctive  characteristics,   as 
compared   with  other  religious   organizations,   I   ever   read,   was 
an  address  delivered  bv  the  late  Bishop  of  London,  Dr.  Creigh- 
ton  on  "The  Positions  of     the  Church  of  England."     In  that 
address  he  savs,  "  The  Church  of  England  has  never  undertaken 
to  define  its  relations  to  other  bodies,"  and  "  The  formula  which 
most  explains  its  position  is  that  it  rests  on  an  appeal  to  sound 
learning."     Xot  that  it  arrogates  to  itself  the  pre-eminent  pos- 
session of  learning,  but  that,  when  learning  and  the  scholastic 
system  came  into  collision  in  the  sixteenth  century,  England  had 
a  unique  opportunitv  of  applying  the  results  of  learning  calmly 
and  dispassionatelv  to  the  svstem  of  the  Church,  and  used  it  so. 
He  savs,  "The  Church  of 'England  does  not  indulge  in  nega- 
tions, but  aims  at  setting  forth  the  truth  in  a  simple  and  dig- 
nified svstem,  and  it  is  this  characteristic  which  has  led  to  the 
groundless   assertion  that   the   Church  of  England  expresses   a 
compromise.     Sound  learning  must  always  wear  the  appearance 
of  a  compromise  between  ignorance  and  plausible  hypothesis." 
This  is  substantiallv  what  Bishop  Westcott  contends  for  when  he 
says,  "The  English  Eeformation  corresponds  with  the  Enghsh 
character,  which   is   disinclined   to   seek  the  completeness   of   a 
theological  svstem.     It  looks  to  finding  truth  through  life  rather 
than  through  logic.     It  is  patient  of  indefiniteness,  even  of  super- 
ficial inconsistencv.  if  onlv  the  root  of  the  matter  can  be  held 
firmly  for  the  guidance  of  conduct,  for  spiritual  subjects  are  too 
vast  to  furnish  clear-cut  premises  from  which  exhaustive  con- 
clusions can  be  drawn.     So  we  naturally  turn  again  and  again 
to   the   historic    elements    of    our    creed."     I    think    that    Dean 
Church  has  shown  that  this  is  the  position  taken  by  our  greatest 
apologist.   Hooker,    and   our   greatest    saint.    Bishop    Andrewes. 
Hooker  appealed  to  the  reason,  and  Andrewes  appealed  to  the 
facts.     As  applied  to  our  relations  with  other  Christian  bodies, 
Bramhall  expressed  it  when  he  said  in  his  essay  on  Episcopacy: 
"  It  is  charity  to  think  well  of  our  neighbors  and  good  divinity 
to  take  care  of  ourselves." 

Therefore,  in  speaking  about  the  characteristic  doctrines  of 
the  various  Protestant  denominations,  our  clergy  might  be  urged 
to  abstain  from  the  use  of  such  terms  as  "  heretic  "  and  "  schis- 
matic," and  thev  might  also  to  be  encouraged  to  interpret  the 
Church's  svstem  in  the  direction  of  brotherly  feeling  and  good 
will,  and  not  for  purposes  of  controversy  and  exclusion.  There 
are  some  rules  in  the  Church  which  seem  to  me  to  be  so  indeter- 
minate as  to  admit  of  interpretation  either  one  way  or  the  other, 
and  it  rests  entirelv  with  the  disposition  of  the  individual  clergy- 
man as  to  what  wav  he  shall  choose.  I  may  refer  here  specifically 
to  the  rubric  following  the  Office  for  Confirmation,  a  rubric  which 
was  drawn  up  in  the  twelfth  century,  and  which  historically  can- 
not be  proved  to  be  intended  for  members  of  Protestant  Churches 


50  PROTESTANT    COMMUNIONS. 

as  we  now  know  them,  and  this  is  true  a  fortiori  when  we  recall 
the  acts  of  occasional  conformity  nnder  which  thousands  of  men 
were  obliged  to  receive  the  Holy  Communion  at  the  altars  of 
the  English  Church  when  their  faith  and  life  were  elsewhere. 
(Confirmation  is  necessary  to  "admit"  our  baptized  children  as 
communicants  of  the  Church.  To  repel  baptized  communicants 
of  other  Christian  bodies  is  a  negative  inference  too  large  for 
the  facts.)  I  do  believe  that  this  question  of  admitting  to  the 
Holy  Communion  is  a  serious  problem  in  our  relation  with  Protes- 
tant Christendom. 

I  do  not  think  that  the  refusal  to  exchange  pulpits  counts  for 
very  much.  The  fact  that  we  require  the  use  of  vestments, 
and  the  liturgical  character  of  our  services,  sufficiently  justifies 
this  lack  of  ministerial  intercourse  in  the  popular  mind. 

In  this  connection  I  would  express  the  wish  that  we  had  a 
recognizable  type  of  Anglican  services,  so  that  worshipers  would 
not  be  confused  by  a  multiplicity  of  variations,  both  for  the 
benefit  of  our  own  people  and  the  edification  of  outsiders.  And, 
for  my  part,  I  cannot  but  hope  that  some  day  we  shall  have  an 
edition  of  the  Prayer  Book  for  mission  use,  in  which  the  rubrics 
of  the  Prayer  Book  will  be  printed  in  large  type  and  expressed 
in  language  that  the  American  public  can  understand. 

This  matter  of  custom  and  worship  is  vital,  it  seems  to  me. 
The  Protestant  masses  do  not  love  us  because  they  do  not  under- 
stand us.  They  see  some  of  our  clergymen  baptizing  infants 
without  any  sort  of  guarantee  that  their  parents  will  bring  them 
up — or  permit  anyone"  else  to  bring  them  up — as  Christians  (and 
this  is  contrary  to  the  whole  teaching  of  the  Church),  and  they 
think  that  we  regard  and  use  Baptism  as  a  charm.  They  attend 
our  services  and  have  none  to  explain  them  or  interpret  them, 
and  they  go  away  untouched.  They  see  classes  presented  for 
Confirmation,  of  whom  perhaps  forty  per  cent,  are  carefully  in- 
structed, and  the  subsequent  worldliness  and  irresponsibility  of 
the  others  encourages  them  to  feel  that  we  are  a  "  peculiar " 
people.  They  hear  some  good  Episcopalians  declare  that  their 
Church  was  not  intended  to  reach  the  uneducated  masses,  and 
that  their  Church  would  not  venture  to  intrude  where  other 
churches  had  the  field;  and  they  imagine  straightway  that  we  are 
confessedly  without  any  well-defined  mission  to  mankind.  Really 
the  first  step  in  winning  the  confidence  of  our  Protestant 
brethren  will  be  to  instruct  and  train  our  own  people.  I  do 
not  believe  that  there  is  a  body  in  Christendom  which  undertakes 
to  carry  so  large  a  load  of  indifferent  membership  as  does  the 
Episcopal  Church.  So  much  the  more  reason  for  definite 
instruction,  and  that  instruction  must  begin  with  the  children. 
It  would  pay  the  General  Convention  to  devote  a  day  to  the  con- 
sideration of  the  work  and  methods  of  teaching  in  our  Sunday 
schools.  At  present  the  systems  of  Sunday-school  instruction  are 
various,  and  the  results  are  far  from  satisfactory. 


BISHOP  OF  TENNESSEE.  51 

Then,  again,  we  do  not  use  the  opportunities  we  have  for  mak- 
ing the  Church  known.  We  lack  organization,  we  lack  aggres- 
siveness and  unity  of  purpose.  Even  our  bishops  too  often  have 
to  fight  like  skirmishers,  and  feel  the  need  of  more  corporate 
relation  and'  co-operation.  The  schoolbooks  of  the  country 
simply  reek  with  misstatements  as  to  the  origin  and  purpose 
of  the  Anglican  Church.  The  newspapers,  many  of  them, — per- 
haps most  of  them, — are  "storm-centers  of  misinformation"  on 
the  subject,  and  we  do  little  or  nothing  to  counteract  their  in- 
fluence or  expose  their  errors.  Perhaps  we  are  too  respectable 
to  make  use  of  the  daily  press  to  teach  the  people,  Just  as  we 
are  too  uncertain  to  set  forth  some  authorized  tracts;  but  it  is 
that  kind  of  self-satisfied  aloofness  from  the  ordinary  world  of 
men  and  women  that  breeds  misconception  and  distrust  of  the 
Church. 

Finallv,  I  think  that  we  ought  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  this 
Church  'is  not  the  Church  of  the  Middle  Ages  nor  the  Church 
of  England,  but  an  American  Church.  The  problems  we  have 
to  solve  and  the  difficulties  we  have  to  encounter  are,  in  a  peculiar 
sense,  our  own.  English  precedents  and  English  customs  will 
help  us  little  in  these  matters.  There  is  hardly  a  question  in 
theology  or  in  ritual  which  will  not  strike  the  mind  of  a  man 
who  has  breathed  in  the  spirit  of  American  institutions  in  a 
different  way  from  that  with  which  it  appeals  to  one  who  lives 
with  less  confidence  in  an  absolutely  popular  government.  Speak- 
ing broadly.  I  venture  to  say  that  the  essential  differences  between 
the  English  and  the  American  mental  attitude  arise  from  the- 
fact  that  in  England  the  nation,  with  its  precedents  and  prestige, 
came  first,  and  the  individual  was  second.  In  the  United  States 
the  individual  was  first,  and  we  are  only  to-day  beginning  to 
realize  fully  the  responsibility  and  authority  of  national  life. 
In  England  authority  is  taken  for  granted,  and  the  individual 
is  beginning  to  be  recognized  in  the  gradual  extension  of  the 
suffrage  and  the  slow  decline  and  limitations  of  mere  class  con- 
trol. With  us,  on  all  sides  there  is  evidence  of  increased  recog- 
nition of  the  nation  and  national  self-consciousness,  as  against 
the  centrifugal  forces  that  have  been  operative  and  tolerated 
in  the  interests  of  the  individual.  In  England  individualism^  is 
growing  and  asserting  itself  against  prescriptive  rights  and  in- 
trenched conservatism  of  class  and  custom.  That  is  why  some- 
times individual  Englishmen  are.  in  our  opinion,  more  vociferous 
in  their  assertion  of  rights  and  privileges  than  the  individual 
American.  The  American  has  learned  the  folly  of  unrestricted 
private  judgment  by  his  own  experience,  and  the  English  people 
have  that  experience  ahead  of  them;  and  the  time  is  coming 
when  the  United  States  will  have  to  teach  England  to  be  sober- 
minded.  This  may  seem  to  be  a  paradox,  but  when  I  read  Dean 
Freemantle's  "  explanations "  of  the  virgin  birth  of  our  Lord 
and  the  defense  of  them  in  the  Contemporary  Review;  when  I  read 


52  PROTESTANT    COMMUNIONS. 

the  appeal  to  the  English  clergy  to  be  considerately  loyal  to  the 
Anglican  Church,  bv  men  like  Dr.  Darwell  Stone  and  Dr.  New- 
bolt,  I  am  satisfied'^that  our  individualism,  compared  with  that 
of  England,  is  "  as  moonlight  unto  sunlight,  as  water  unto  wine." 
f]nglisli  ch'urchmanship  to-day  is  handicapped  by  the  almost 
fanatical  strife  of  two  sets  of  extremists  in  religion,  one  school 
declaring  that  the  English  Church  is  but  one  section, — one 
province"^— of  the  Roman  obedience,  which  is  bound,  by  every 
Catholic  tradition,  some  day,  to  submit  to  the  Papal  claims,  and 
the  other  school,  following"  the  lead  of  Matthew  x\rnold,  frankly 
avows,  to  quote  the  language  of  one  of  its  leaders,  that  the  old 
formuke  must  be  completely  laid  aside  or  else  inevitably  change 
their  meaning,  and  that  this  is  the  only  basis  of  "  national  union 
for  religious  purposes."  That  is  a  definition  of  the  Christian 
Church  to  give  us  pause.  It  is  a  national  union  for  religious 
purposes. 

I  cannot  but  deprecate  the  introduction  into  the  Church  in 
this  countr}'  of  methods  and  habits  of  thought  and  custom  which 
are,  it  seems  to  me,  entirely  foreign  to  our  history  and  character. 
We  have  no  established  Church;  our  people  are  not  yet  accus- 
tomed to  the  defined  separation  of  classes.  The  democratic  prin- 
ciple is  still  the  foundation  of  the  vState.  For  us,  then,  to  import 
into  this  Church  the  manners  and  customs,  the  prejudices  and 
parties  of  the  Established  Church  of  England,  seems  to  me  to  be 
a  mistake.  Romanism  has  tried  in  vain  to  be  Roman  in  the 
United  States,  and  is  now  attempting  to  convince  people  that  it 
is  the  American  Catholic  Church.  No  body  of  Christians  ever 
had  the  splendid  opportunity  that  we  have  to  demonstrate  that 
"  Catholicity  "  does  not  mean  "  Romanism,"  and  that  "  Ameri- 
can" is  not  synonymous  with  class  individualism;  but  we  shall 
not  do  it  as  a  branch  of  the  Church  of  England,  only  as  an 
American  Church.  The  political  events  of  the  past  five  years 
have  educated  our  people  up  to  the  appreciation  of  a  larger 
conception  of  the  nation  and  a  more  sympathetic  understanding 
of  the  place  of  authority  in  government.  The  very  principles 
for  which  the  Church  has  contended  for  a  hundred  years  on  this 
■continent  are  coming  to  be  the  accepted  principles  of  our  national 
life.  Let  us  teach  these  principles,  then,  not  as  an  alien  and 
foreign  importation,  but  as  legitimate  and  logical  developments 
of  American  institutions.  Our  appeal  to  Protestantism  is  Dis- 
raeli's appeal  to  the  Jews — not  that  they  be  converted  and 
changed,  he  said,  but,  as  the  Apostle  Paul  put  it,  that  they 
become  "  complete  in  Him."  Or,  as  Professor  Maurice  used  to 
say,  the  true  and  vital  principles  of  Protestantism  can  be  shown 
to  be  Catholic  principles. 

As  an  American  Church,  we  have,  I  repeat,  an  exceptional 
opportunity  of  contact  and  sympathy  with  the  great  Protestant 
world,  which  may  be  encouraged  by  the  maintenance  of  our 
American  spirit  and  American  independence  in  custom  and  wor- 


BISHOP  COADJUTOR  OF  MONTREAL. 


53 


I 


ship  and  government.  I  believe  that  it  is  God's  own  plan  to 
shape  history  of  the  progress  of  variously  contrasted  types  o^ 
human  nature  and  to  make  their  differences  a  divme  method  ot 
culture  and  development.  To  recognize  those  differences  of  racial 
and  national  progress  is  to  fall  in  with  His  design.  To  disparage 
•or  ignore  them,  as  Rome  has  tried  to  do,  is  (as  Martineau  says) 
*'  to  trv  to  be  more  Catholic  than  God." 


THUESDAY  MORNING. 

Fifth  Topic 

THE   ATTITUDE    OF   OUR   CHURCH   TOWARD   THE 
PROTESTANT  COMMUNIONS  AROUND  HER. 

(a)    POINTS  OF  UNION  AND  THEIR  EMPHASIS. 

Second  Paper. 
The  Right  Rev.  James  Carmichael,  D.C.L., 

BISHOP  COADJUTOR  OF  MONTREAL. 

This  subject  is  of  a  very  wide  character,  my  paper  is  not  to 
exceed  twenty  minutes;  hence  the  cut-and-dried  conciseness  of 
what  I  have  written. 

It  would  be  folly  to  endeavor  to  note  the  points  of  unity  be- 
tween Anglican  communions  and  the  widespread  organizations 
of  those  outside  of  such  communions.  I  therefore  select  out  of 
many  the  two  greatest  Protestant  communions  in  Canada,  and 
I  suppose  in  the  States— the  Presbyterian  and  Methodist— and 
proceed  to  show,  first,  where  we  positively  agree,  and,  secondly, 
where  we  closely  approach  agreement. 

My  authorities  are  the  recognized  standards  of  each  com- 
munion: Presbyterian,  the  Westminster  Confession,  the  Larger 
and  Shorter  Catechisms,  and  the  Apostles'  Creed  regarded  as  a 
summary  of  the  Christian  faith,  agreeable  tcf  the  Word  of  God, 
and  anciently  received  in  the  churches  of  God.  Methodist,  the 
Twenty-five  Articles  of  Religion,  the  fifty-two  Sermons  of  Wesley, 
the  Notes  of  Wesley  on  the  New  Testament  and  the  Catechisms. 

A  comparison  of  these  standards  with  those  of  the  different 
branches  of  the  Anglican  communion  shows  actual  unity  of  belief 
in  the  following  doctrines  : 

(1)  The  Being  of  God:  (2)  The  Holy  Trinity:  (3)  The  Divinity 
and  Work  of  the  Lord  Jesus;  (4)  The  Person  and  Procession  of 
the  Holy  Ghost;  (5)  The  Sufficiency  of  the  Holy  Scriptures;  (6) 
Justification  by  Faith;  (7)  Good  Works. 

A  like  comparison  shows  a  very  close  approach  of  unity  of  belief 
with  Anglicanism  on  the  following  subjects : 


54  protestant  communions. 

The  Church. 

Methodist.— The  visible  Church  of  C^irist  is  a  congregation  of 
faithful  men  in  which  the  pure  Word  of  God  is  preached  and 
sacraments  duly  administered,  according  to  Christ's  ordinance,  in 
all  things  that"  of  necessity  are  requisite  to  the  same.     (Article 

The  definition  is  identical  with  that  of  the  Nineteenth  Article 
of  the  Church  of  England,  save  that  the  clause  on  erring  churches 
is  omitted. 

Presbyterian. — The  invisible  Church,  which  is  catholic,  consists 
of  the  whole  number  of  the  elect;  the  visible,  which  is  also 
catholic,  consists  of  all  throughout  the  world  that  profess  the 
true  religion,  together  with  their  children.  Of  this  Church  there 
is  no  other  head  but  Jesus  Christ.  To  this  Catholic  Visible 
Church  Christ  hath  given  the  ministry,  oracles,  and  ordinances 
of  God,  etc.     (Confession,  Cap.  25.) 

With  regard  to  the  authority  and  discipline  of  the  Church  these 
two  bodies  teach  as  follows : 

Methodist. — In  Catechism  2,  and  in  the  Baptismal  Service  and 
Ordination  Service,  the  Church  is  styled,  "the  Holy  Church," 
"the  Holy  Catholic  Church,"  "Christ's  Holy  Church,"  "Congre- 
gation of  "Christ's  Flock,"  "the  Household  o"f  God,"  "the  Church 
of  God,"  "  the  Church  Militant,"  "  the  Spouse  and  Body  of 
Christ."  Article  Twenty-two,  on  the  "  Eites  and  Ceremonies  of 
the  Church,"  is  practically  identical  with  Article  Thirty-four  of 
the  Church  of  England  on""  The  Traditions  of  the  Church."  The 
word  Traditions  is  omitted,  but  otherwise  the  Article  is  prac- 
tically unchanged.  Under  the'  laws  of  Methodist  discipline, 
offending  ministers,  probationers,  local  preachers,  and  laymen  or 
women  are  liable  to  be  tried,  and,  if  necessary,  excommunicated. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  teaches  belief  in  "  the  Holy  Catholic 
Church,"  "  the  Catholic  or  Universal  Church,"  "  the  Visible 
Church,"  "  The  Kingdom  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  "  the  House 
and  Family  of  God." 

In  its  Confession  (30)  it  teaches  that  the  Lord  as  King  has 
appointed  a  government  in  the  hands  of  Church  officers,  distinct 
from  the  civil  magistrate.  To  these  the  keys  of  the  Kingdom 
of  Heaven  are  committed,  they  having  power  to  retain  and  remit 
sins,  to  shut  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  against  the  impenitent,  both 
by  word  and  censures,  and  to  open  it  to  penitent  sinners  by  the 
word  of  the  Gospel  and  by  absolution  from  censures,  as  occasion 
shall  require.  Church  censures  are  necessary  for  the  honor  of 
Christ,  etc.,  and  to  attain  these  ends  the  officers  are  to  proceed 
by  admonition,  suspension  from  the  sacrament,  or  by  excommuni- 
cation. 

The  Sacraments. 

In  comparing  the  standards  of  the  two  bodies  on  the  general 
subject  of  the  sacraments  with  the  Anglican  definition  in  Article 


BISHOP  COADJUTOR  OF  MONTREAL.  55 

Twenty-five  we  find  literal  verbal  agreement  between  Methodist 
and  Anglican  definitions,  save  that  the  Methodist  Article  omits 
redundant  words,  and  changes  the  word  "  damnation  "  into  "  con- 
demnation." 

Presbyterian. — Defines  sacraments  as  holy  signs  and  seals  of 
the  Covenant  of  Grace,  instituted  by  God  to  represent  Christ 
and  His  benefits,  and  to  confirm  our  interests  in  Him.  That 
there  is  in  every  sacrament  a  spiritual  relation  or  sacramental 
union  between  the  sign  and  the  thing  signified.  That  the  efficacy 
of  a  sacrament  depends  upon  the  work  of  the  Spirit  and  the  words 
of  institution.     (Chap.  27.) 

Baptism. 

Methodist. — Defines  baptism  as  "  a  sign  of  regeneration,"  or 
new  birth.      (Article  XVII.) 

Presbyterian. — Defines  baptism  as  a  sign  and  seal  of  the  Cove- 
nant of  Grace,  of  engrafting  into  Christ,  of  regeneration,  of  re- 
mission of  sins.  It  also  states  that  regeneration  is  not  confined 
to  baptism,  nor  does  it  assert  that  all  baptised  are  regenerate,  but 
such  reservation  implies  that,  as  a  rule,  regeneration  accompanies 
baptism.  (Confession  23,  Directory.) 

Both  svstems  agree  with  us  in  regarding  the  regeneration  of 
baptism  as  an  infiuence  of  divine  grace. 

Presbyterian. — "  There  is  a  grace  in  baptism."  "  That  we 
should  be  humbled  for  falling  short  of  the  grace  of  baptism." 
(Larger  Catechism,  167.)  In  the  Directory  for  Public  Worship, 
prayer  is  ordered  to  be  made  that  God  would  Join  the  inward 
baptism  of  the  spirit  with  the  outward  baptism  of  water,  making 
it  to  the  infant  a  seal  of  adoption,  remission  of  sin,  regeneration, 
and  eternal  life. 

Methodist. — In  Cat.  2  the  following  question  is  asked : 
"  What  is  the  inward  and  spiritual  grace  of  baptism?  " 
"  Our  being  cleansed  from  the  guilt  and  defilement  of  sin,  and 
receiving  a  new  life  from  and  in  Christ  Jesus." 

In  Wesley's  eighteenth  Sermon  he  says,  in  speaking  to  those 
fallen : 

"  And  if  ye  have  been  baptised,  your  only  hope  can  be  this,  that 
those  who  were  made  children  of  God  by  baptism,  but  are  now 
children  of  the  devil,  may  receive  again  what  they  have  lost, 
even  the  spirit  of  adoption  crying  in  their  hearts.  '  Abba, 
Father.' " 

With  regard  to  the  baptism  of  children,  Methodism  (Article 
XXVII.)  declares:  "The  baptism  of  young  children  is  to  be 
retained  in  the  Church  that  all  children,  by  virtue  of  the  uncon- 
ditional benefits  of  the  Atonement,  are  members  of  the  Kingdom 
of  God,  and  therefore  entitled  to  baptism."  (Discipline,  55.) 
Presbyterianism  teaches  "  that  the  children  of  such  as  profess 
the  true  religion  are  members  of  the  Visible  Church  "  (Confes- 


I 


5g  PROTESTANT    COMMUNIONS. 

sion,  25;  Cat.,  62);  that  "the  infants  of  one  or  both  believing 
parents  are  to  be  baptized."     (Confession,  28;  Cat.,  166.) 

This  practical  refusal  of  baptism  to  the  children  of  unbehevm^ 
parents  must,  I  fancy,  be  tided  over  in  some  way  m  the  wide- 
spread and  successful  missionary  work  of  Presbyteriamsm. 

Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 

That  this  sacrament  is  a  positive  means  of  grace. 

Methodist.— That  through  sacraments  as  signs  of  grace  God 
doth  work  invisibly  in  us,  and  doth  not  only  quicken  but  also 
strengthen  and  comfort  our  faith  in  Him.  (Article  XVI.) 
That  when  taken  by  the  faithful  the  Lord's  Supper  "  strengthens 
and  refreshes  souls'";  that  it  is  "an  outward  and  visible  sign  of 
an  inward  and  spiritual  grace"  (Cat.,  2);  and  that  "in  such 
as  worthily  receive,  it  has  a  wholesome  effect  or  operation.' 
(Article  XVI.) 

Presbyterian.— "  To  believers,  the  Lord's  Supper  is  a  sealing 
of  all  the  benefits  of  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  unto  their  spiritual 
nourishment  and  growth  in  Him."  (Confession,  29.)  "That 
by  the  working  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  the  blessing  of  Christ 
sacraments  become  effectual  means  of  salvation."  (Larger 
Catechism.) 

Worthy  Reception. 

Methodist. — "To-  such  as  rightly,  worthily,  and  with  faith 
receive  the  Supper  of  the  Lord,  the  bread  which  we  take  is  a 
partaking  of  the  body  of  Christ,  and  likewise  the  cup  of  blessing 
is  a  partaking  of  the  blood  of  Christ."  "  The  body  of  Christ 
is  given,  taken,  and  eaten  in  the  Supper  only  after  a  heavenly  and 
spiritual  manner,  and  the  means  whereby  it  is  received  and  eaten 
is  faith."     (Article  XVIII.) 

Presbyterian. — "  The  outward  elements  "  "  have  such  relation 
to  Christ  crucified,  as  that  truly,  yet  sacramentally  only,  they 
are  sometimes  called  by  the  name  of  the  things  they  represent, 
albeit  in  substance  and  nature  they  still  remain  truly  and  only 
bread  and  wine,  as  they  were  before."  "  Worthy  receivers,  out- 
wardly partaking  of  the  visible  elements  in  this  sacrament,  do 
then  also  inwardly  by  faith,  really  and  indeed,  yet  not  carnally 
and  corporally,  but  spiritually,  receive  and  feed  upon  Christ 
crucified,  and  all  benefits  of  his  death,  the  body  and  blood  of 
Christ  being  then  not  corporally  or  carnally  in,  with,  or  under 
the  bread  and  wine,  yet  as  really,  but  spiritually,  present  to  the 
faith  of  believers  in  that  ordinance,  as  the  elements  themselves 
are  to  the  outward  senses."     (Confession,  Cap..  29.) 

"  Worthy  receivers  are,  not  after  a  corporal  a>id  carnal  manner^ 
but  by  faith,  made  partakers  of  His  body  and  blood,  with  all  His 
benefits,  to  their  spiritual  nourishment  and  growth  in  grace." 
(Shorter  Catechism,  2,  96.) 


bishop  coadjutor  of  montreal.  57 

Absolution, 

Presbyterian. — "  That  the  Lord  Jesus  as  King,  etc.,  hath  ap- 
pointed a  government  in  the  hands  of  Church  officers,  etc.  To 
these  the  keys  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  are  committed,  by 
virtue  whereof  they  have  power,  respectively  to  retain  and  remit 
sins,  to  shut  that  Kingdom  against  the  impenitent,  both  by  word 
and  censures,  and  to  open  it  unto  penitent  sinners,  by  the  ministry 
of  the  Gospel,  and  by  absolution  from  censures  as  occasion  shall 
require."     (Confession,  C.  30,  1  and  2.) 

Methodist. — Methodism  seems  devoid  of  all  teaching  with 
regard  to  the  ministerial  power  of  absolution;  but  the  principle  of 
declaratory  absolution  lies  at  the  very  root  of  the  practical  work- 
ing of  Methodism,  inasmuch  as  ministers  declare  publicly,  as  the 
result  of  every  camp  and  revival  meeting,  that  so  many  indi- 
viduals, having  acknowledged  their  sins,  are  converted  and  are 
hereby  publicly  declared  as  pardoned.  In  the  case  of  erring  min- 
isters, local  preachers,  and  laity,  pardon  can  only  be  obtained 
after  confession  of  sin,  etc.     (Discipline,  p.  132.) 

Fasting. 

Presbyterian. — That  religious  fasting  is  a  duty  arising  out  of 
obedience  to  the  second  commandment.  (Larger  Catechism, 
108.)  That  it  demands  total  abstinence  from  food,  except  in 
cases  of  bodily  weakness.  That  it  should  be  observed  in  times  of 
public  judgment,  or  when  special  blessings  are  sought.  (Direc- 
tory); and  that  at  ordinations  the  congregation  which  he  that 
is  to  be  ordained  shall  serve  is  recommended  to  keep  a  solemn 
congregational  fast  previous  to  the  day  of  ordination.  (Form 
for  government.)  Besides  general  fasts  of  the  Church,  enjoined 
by  authority,  congregations  and  families  may  observe  days  of 
fasting.  (Directory.)  It  is  customary,  in  some  parts,  to  ob- 
serve a  fast  before  the  Lord's  Supper,  etc.,  and  as  these  seasons 
have  been  blessed  to  many  souls,  etc.,  those  who  choose  it  may 
continue  the  practice.     (Directory.) 

Methodist. — Those  desirous  of  continuing  members  shall  fast. 
(General  Eules,  43.)  Fasts  should  be  observed  in  every  society 
on  the  Friday  preceding  each  quarterly  meeting.  (Eules,  177.) 
Ministers  and  probationers  should  fast  every  week  as  health  per- 
mits. (Rule  199.)  Ministers  should  constantly  ask  themselves: 
"  Do  we  know  the  benefit  and  obligation  of  fasting?  How  often 
do  we  practice  it  ?  The  neglect  of  this  alone  is  sufficient  to 
account  for  our  feebleness  of  spirit.  We  are  continually  griev- 
ing the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  bv  the  continual  neglect  of  a  plain 
duty."     (319.) 

On  Directing  the  Congregation  in  Public  Prayer. 

Presbyterian. — From  1560  to  1645  Presbyterianism  used  the 
Liturgy  of  John  Knox,  modeled  after  the  Genevan  liturgy.     Then 


58  PROTESTANT    COMMUNIONS. 

came  the  arrest  of  liturgical  services  through  the  adoption  of  the 
Directory  for  Public  Worship.  This  Directory  aimed  at  obtain- 
ing a  measure  of  uniformity,  not  by  issuing  the  actual  words  of 
prayer,  but  "  the  general  heads  or  topics  for  petitioning,  outlined 
supplications,"  leaving  it  to  the  minister  to  use  his  discretion 
as  to  words;  in  short,  giving  the  godly  man  who  possessed  the 
gift  of  language  "the  help  and  furniture  of  thought."  The 
prayers  are  outlined  at  some  length,  and,  from  the  directions 
given,  it  is  clear  that  the  minister  was  in  duty  bound  to  touch 
on  all  the  subjects  given  him.  In  secret  and  private  worship  a 
set  form  of  prayer  is  allowed  to  be  used  under  certain  conditions 
— inability  to  put  words  together,  etc. 

In  baptism  these  topical  directions  are  very  full.  Directions 
are  given  for  the  administration  of  the  sacrament,  the  use  of 
the  baptismal  words  enjoined,  and  a  choice  given  between  pouring 
and  sprinkling. 

Lord's  Supper. — In  the  administration  of  the  Lord's  Supper 
the  service  taken  part  in  by  the  minister,  the  prayers  used,  etc., 
are  fully  outlined,  and  he  is  commanded  "to  bless  the  elements 
by  the  words  of  institution  and  prayer,  and  to  break  the  bread 
aiid  hold  the  cup  whilst  using  the  divine  words." 

Marriage. — The  general  character  of  a  marriage  service  is  out- 
lined for  the  minister,  and  the  couple  are  joined  together 
by  a  clear  form  of  words  repeated  by  them  after  the  min- 
ister. 

Methodist. — Methodism  authorizes  liturgical  services  for  bap- 
tism; the  Lord's  Supper,  marriage,  burial,  ordination — all  of  which 
are  taken  from  the  services  enjoined  by  the  Church  of  England. 
In  addition  to  these  are  services  for  (1)  Eeception  of  Members, 
(2)  Renewing  the  Covenant,  (3)  Laying  the  C'orner  Stone  of  a 
-Church,  (-i)  Dedicating  a  Church. 

Ordination. 

Presbyterian. — The  act  of  ordination  consists  of  the  imposition 
■of  hands  and  prayer,  in  which  God  is  implored  "  to  fit "  the  candi- 
date "  with  His  Holy  Spirit,  to  fulfill  the  work  of  the  ministry  in 
all  things,  that  he  may  both  save  himself  and  the  people  com- 
mitted to  his  charge."  Previous  to  the  act  the  candidate  is 
publicly  examined,  theologically  and  personally. 

Methodist. — Those  about  to  be  ordained  are  examined  as  to 
whether  they  "  think  they  are  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost  to 
preach."  The  minister  is  constituted  or  set  apart  by  the  laying- 
on  of  hands  to  conduct  all  parts  of  divine  service,  to  baptize,  ad- 
minister the  Lord's  Supper,  solemnize  matrimony,  etc. — the 
words  of  ordination  being:  "The  Lord  pour  upon  thee  the  Holy 
Ghost  for  the  office  and  work  of  the  ministry  in  the  Church  of 
God,  now  committed  unto  thee  by  the  imposition  of  our  hands. 
And  be  thou  a  faithful  dispenser  of  the  Word  of  God,  and  of 


BISHOP  COADJUTOR  OF  MONTREAL.  59 

His  Holy  Sacraments  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son, 
and  of  tile  Holy  Ghost.     Amen." 

These  words"  are  used  after  the  use  of  the  Ve^n  Creator. 

I  will  now  sum  up  these  points  of  contact  as  I  have  given 
them. 

Sacramentally. — There  is  agreement  between  the  Anglicans, 
Methodists,  and  Presbyterians  on  the  following  points: 

(1)  That  a  sacrament  is  a  sign  of  grace. 

(2)  That  the  sign  is  connected  with  a  spiritual  grace  to  the 
worthy  receiver. 

(3)  That  baptism  is  a  sign  of  regeneration. 

(4)  That  regeneration  is  connected  with  an  inward  grace. 
'(5)   That  children  are  fit  subjects  for  baptism. 

(6)  That  in  baptism  children  receive  blessings  of  grace. 

(7)  That  the  Lord's  Supper  is  a  positive  means  of  grace. 

(8)  That  worthy  communicants  feed  spiritually  upon  the  body 
and  blood  of  Christ. 

With  regard  to  the  Church  there  is  agreement  on  the  following 
points : 

(1)   That  Christ  founded  the  Church,  and  that  He  is  its  Head. 
(3)   That  the  Church  so  founded  is  visible  on  earth. 

(3)  That  all  Churches  are  liable  to  err. 

(4)  That  the  Church  possesses  power  to  execute  discipline — if 
needs  be,  to  excommunicate;  to  decide  controversies,  etc.,  in  con- 
nection with  faith,  doctrine,  and  practice.         ^ 

With  regard  to  the  ministry  there  is  agreement  on  the  follow- 
ing points : 

(1)  That  Christ  instituted  the  ministry  as  distinct  from  the 
laity. 

(2)  That  none  should  minister  save  those  called. 

(3)  That  Christ  endows  His  ministry  with  suitable  graces. 

(4)  That  ordination  should  consist  of  the  laying-on  of  hands 
and  prayer. 

(5)  That  the  ministry  has  power  to  bind  and  loose;  to  excom- 
municate and  declare  absolution. 

My  subject  as  defined  for  me  demands  a  few  emphatic  words 
based  on  the  foregoing  facts.  Notice  how  near  we  are  to  our 
separated  brethren,  and  they  to  us;  how  all  that  I  have  been 
reading — the  definitions,  thoughts,  language — sound  as  if  all  had 
T)een  copied  out  of  the  standards  of  Anglican  theology.  Yet,  at 
the  same  time,  notice  how  far  apart  we  practically  are  from  each 
other.  Beyond  certain  combinations  of  courtesy  and  acts  of 
sociability,  we  really  have  no  strong  links  of  spiritual  fellow- 
ship binding  us  to  them  or  they  to  us.  And  yet  no  thoughtful 
mind,  I  think,  can  ignore  their  power  for  good  in  the  world;  no 
one  would  dare  to  deny,  or  even  minimize,  the  forceful  righteous- 
ness which  goes  forth  from  them — a  righteousness  so  forceful 
that  every  day  national  godliness  and  morality  would  suffer  the 
severest  blow  ever  dealt  to  it  if  suddenly  that  force  were  paralysed. 


60 


PROTESTANT    COMMUNIONS. 


and  that  wewould  suffer,  and  suffer  materially,  as  part  and  parcel 
of  common  Christianity. 

And  vet  that  force  for  righteousness,  so  near  and  close  to  us 
in  holy  "doctrines  and  sacred  teaching,  is  no  direct  aid  to  us  or 
we  to  "it;  as  a  rule  our  position  toward  each  other  being  that  of 
courteous  yet  definite  separation.  Surely  it  would  well  beht  a 
conference'such  as  this  to  take  some  practical  step  m  accordance 
with  but  in  advance  of,  the  Lambeth  platform,  that  would  awake 
ourselves  and  these  great  Churches  outside  of  ourselves  afresh 
to  the  fact  that,  as  far  as  Anglican  Communions  are  concerned 
the  unity  of  Protestantism  is  still  in  the  field;  that  the  sole  and 
only  object  animating  us  in  the  matter  is  our  desire,  m  the  name 
of  God  and  for  His  glory,  to  do  something  toward  placing  a  stay 
on  the  rending  of  that  Church  which  is  "  Christ's  body,"  and  that 
we  are  in  earnest,  sober.  God-fearing  earnest,  to  do,  as  a  Church, 
all  that  lies  in  our  power,  seeking  to  view  calmly  our  differences, 
and  striving  to  realize  our  agreements,  and  from  this  happier 
standpoint  of  Christian  feeling  looking  out  with  hope  on  "  things 
that  make  for  peace:"  ,i    .    v 

I  hold  that  this  conference  gives  us  an  opportunity  that  by 
God's  blessing,  if  we  use  it  judiciously,  might  lead  to  good  re- 
sults, and  I  would  advise  the  passage  of  a  resolution  on  the 
subject. 

Resolution. 

"Resolved:  The  Bishops  present  in  the  All- American  Confer- 
ence held  in  the  City  of  Washington,  having  had  under  discussion 
the  attitude  of  the  Church  to  which  they  belong  toward  the 
Protestant  communions  around  them,  have  been  aroused  anew  to 
the  manifold  evils  of  that  unhappy  condition  of  disunion  within 
the  Church  of  Christ  with  which  we  are  everywhere  confronted 
to-day. 

"While  ardently  desiring  the  co-operation  of  all  Protestant 
communions,  yet  having  regard  to  the  paper  read  before  us  by 
the  Bishop  Coadjutor  of  Montreal  as  to  the  points  of  agreement 
and  disagreement  (but  especially  the  former)  between  our  Pres- 
byterian and  Methodist  brothers'^  and  ourselves,  we  would  respect- 
fully suggest  to  the  General  Convention  of  the  United  States,  the 
General  Synod  of  Canada  and  the  Synod  of  the  West  Indies,  the 
advisability  of  constituting  committees  to  lay  before  the  General. 
Assembly  and  the  General  Conference  the  contents  of  that  paper,, 
and  to  invite  them  to  take  such  other  steps  as  by  them  may  be 
deemed  best  to  draw  the  attention  of  the  several  congregations  to- 
them. 

"  We  would  also  affectionately  commend  this  whole  most  grave- 
subject  anew  to  the  consideration  of  these  Protestant  com- 
munions, and  ask  them  to  consider  it  seriously  with  a  view  to  ar- 
riving at  intercommunion  and  possible  union  of  them  and  us, 
through   the   composition   of   some   of   the   differences,   and   the 


I 


BISHOP  OF  PITTSBURGH.  61 

recognition  that  others  do  not  constitute  sufficient  reasons  for 
creating  or  continuing  a  rupture  of  that  visible  unity  of  the 
Church  for  which  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  prayed. 

"  We  are  very  thankful  to  believe  that,  notwithstanding  dif- 
ferences between  Christians,  yet  because  of  the  wide  acceptance 
of  the  underlying  basic  principle  of  baptismal  unity,  there  is 
good  hope  of  the  fulfillment  of  our  Blessed  Lord's  high  priestly 
prayer,  which  calls  for  constant  thought  and  prayer  and  consci- 
entious effort  on  part  of  His  disciples  for  the  accomplishment  of 
reunion  throughout  Christendom. 

"  Believing  that  many  of  the  evils  now  under  review  arise  from 
the  lack,  both  among  our  own  people  and  others,  of  sufficient 
knowledge  and  proper  understanding  of  our  history  and  of  the 
general  principles  of  our  organic  Church,  we  would  urge  the  more 
common  use  of  such  publications,  and  literature,  as  will  tend  to 
supply  this  lack." 


THUESDAY  MOENING. 

Fifth  Topic. 

THE    ATTITUDE    OF    OUR     CHURCH     TOWARD    THE 
PROTESTANT   COMMUNIONS   AROUND   HER. 

(b)POINTS  OF  DIFFERENCE  AND  THEIR  EXPLANATION. 

First  Paper. 
The  Right  Rev.  Cortlandt  Whitehead,  D.D., 

BISHOP  OF    PITTSBURGH. 

To  begin  what  I  have  to  say,  I  quote  the  following  which  lately- 
fell  under  my  eye  in  one  of  our  Diocesan  papers.  The  two  para- 
graphs sufficiently  describe  the  situation. 

"  Count  the  steeples  in  an  American  town.  It  is  all  very  well 
to  say  that  they  are  so  many  fingerposts  pointing  heavenwards. 
In  reality  each  is  the  representative  of  a  certain  portion  of  truth, 
torn  out  of  its  place  in  the  perfect  circle  of  Catholic  truth,  and 
mangled  in  the  process.  It  is  often  a  partial,  petty,  and  an  an- 
tagonistic presentation  of  the  Church  of  God.     .     . 

"  The  American  people  are  an  intensely  practical  people.  En- 
dowed with  a  large  allowance  of  common  sense,  fertile  in  expe- 
dients, and  prompt  in  action,  they  are  not  apt  to  be  long  tolerant 
of  a  proved  absurdity.  Only  let  the  religious  portion  of  our  com- 
munity become  once  persuaded  that  it  is  a  palpable  absurdity  to 
call  the  existing  jumble  of  denominations,  followings,  and  sects, 
Christian  Unity,  they  will  work  night  and  day  and  pray  day  and 
night  until  something  better  is  brought  to  pass." 

I  believe  it  to  be  the  inherently  happy  lot  of  every  bishop  of 


g2  PROTESTANT  COMMUNIONS. 

the  Anglican  Communion  to  have  a  share  in  our  dear  Lord's 
Beatitude  concerning  the  peacemakers.  On  this  American  con- 
tinent there  is  no  more  bounden  duty  and  privilege  of  a  bishop 
than  that  he  should  reduce  friction,  dispel  prejudice,  impart  in- 
formation: throw  light  upon  matters  of  difference;  draw  atten- 
tion to  points  of  agreement;  commend  the  truth  to  men's  con- 
sciences as  in  the  sight  of  God,  without  fear  or  favor  indeed,  but 
at  the  same  time  speaking  the  whole  truth  in  love.  That  will  be 
a  successful  Episcopate,  by  whomsoever  exercised,  which  leaves 
behind  it  a  flavor  of  peace-loving,  peace-helping  ministry,  ten- 
derly and  affectionately  giving  explanation  of  all  points  of  dif- 
ference. And  when  a  number  of  bishops  meet  together  to  take 
counsel  concerning  the  Kingdom  of  God,  no  more  Christlike  busi- 
ness can  be  theirs  than  to  consider  and  endeavor  to  bring  to  pass 
the  speedy  fulfillment  of  our  Lord's  great  prayer  for  unity. 

No  other  Christian  Communion  has  so  hard  a  task  as  we.  All 
alike.  Christian  bodies  are  contending  in  their  measure  and  de- 
gree, against  the  World,  the  Flesh,  and  the  Devil.  But  do  I  not 
voice  the  experience  of  all  my  brethren  when  I  say  that,  in  ad- 
dition to  this,  the  Church  in  our  sect-ridden  community  must  con- 
tend against  an  ill-feeling,  against  a  misunderstanding,  against  a 
misrepresentation,  and  against  a  prejudice,  which  to  us  seem  ab- 
surdly out  of  proportion  to  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  the 
character  of  which  we  are  conscious  in  ourselves,  the  doctrines  we 
hold,  and  the  attitude  which  the  Church  in  her  heart  of  hearts 
maintains  towards  our  brethren  of  the  Protestant  Communions. 

WTiat  shall  we  do  to  explain  the  points  of  difference?  I  think 
it  may  be  fairly  said  that  the  original  causes  of  divergence  be- 
tween the  Church  and  the  Protestant  bodies  around  her  have 
virtually  disappeared.  And,  transplanted  across  the  sea  to  our 
broad  land  and  later  times,  their  consistency  and  logic,  their  very 
locus  standi  are  perceptibly  going,  if  not  already  gone.  We  can 
see  it  on  every  hand,  although  our  brethren  themselves  may  not 
be  conscious  of  it. 

Historically, separation  came,  as  we  know,  in  large  measure  from 
political  as  well  as  theological  and  ecclesiastical  causes,  and  was 
connected  with  times  now  reckoned  as  of  the  far  past.  Anyone 
who  knows  his  English  history  will  recognize  that  ecclesiastical  or 
doctrinal  reasons  were  often  adopted  to  excuse  the  separation, 
after  other  reasons  had  somewhat  lost  their  primary  importance. 
This  may  be  safely  said  of  the  Presbyterians  and  Independents, 
and  possibly  of  others.  The  causes  of  the  Wesleyan  defection 
our  Methodist  brethren  themselves  would  probably  agree  with  us 
cannot  justly  be  charged  against  the  x\nglican  Communion 
to-day. 

What  we  have  to  meet,  therefore,  can  be  very  largely  compre- 
hended under  the  one  word  prejudice \ — misunderstanding  is  a 
less  irritating  word — inherited  prejudice — and  prejudice  on  every 
side  comes  from  ignorance,  by  which  I  do  not   mean  anything 


BISHOP  OF    PITTSBURGH.  63 

necessarily  reprehensible.  Perhaps  we  should  rather  say,  a  lack 
of  information,  oftentimes  an  inevitable  lack. 

The  creed  of  multitudes  of  religionists  to-day  depends  upon 
accident, — not  principle.  Abundant  witness  may  be  found  for 
this  statement  wherever  inquiry  is  made  among  ordinary  Chris- 
tian people  for  the  reasons  which  make  them  adherents  of  one 
or  another  denomination.  The  accident  of  birth,  the  accident  of 
education,  an  accidental  friendship,  or  change  of  residence,  or 
marriage,  or  pastoral  attentions,  or  convenience  of  access — how 
many  such  reasons  are  the  only  reasons  for  ecclesiastical  affinities, 
among  our  own  people  as  among  others. 

Ask  an  ordinary  attendant  at  any  one  of  our  hundred  different 
houses  of  worship  why  he  belongs  there,  what  the  special  tenets 
of  his  denomination  are  and  why,  who  was  its  originator,  what 
its  history,  whence  its  authority,  what  its  particular  witness,  pur- 
pose, destiny; — on  what  Scriptural  or  historic  or  practical  grounds 
it  separated  and  remains  separated  from  others  closely  akin  or 
further  removed;  even  why  he  is  a  Protestant,  and  against 
what  errors  he  protests;  and  can  he  tell  you?  Does  not  our  own 
experience  among  men  assure  us  that  ignorance  on  all  sides,  un- 
intelligent, thoughtless,  inert,  but  bristling  with  prejudice,  char- 
acterizes the  mass  of  the  people  who  profess  and  call  themselves 
Protestant  Christians  on  this  American  continent? 

When  the  question  is  how  to  approach  them  and  make  friends 
with  them,  consummate  wisdom  is  needed,  as  all  will  allow.  Such 
in  difficulty  arid  delicacy  is  the  problem  before  us  to-day. 

No  one  who  really  believes  in  the  one  Holy,  Catholic,  and  Apos- 
tolic Church  as  the  Ideal  can  fail  to  regard  the  Dispersion  as  most 
lamentable.  Our  Prayer  Book  bids  us  remember  "  the  great 
dangers  we  are  in  by  our  unhappy  divisions."  All  separatists  from 
the  Ideal  are  indeed  wandering  sheep.* 

Nor  are  these  words  arrogant.  They  assume  indeed  that  we 
are  right  and  these  our  brethren  wrong,  but  how  else  can  we 
have  any  reason  to  exist  as  a  Church?  Confident  as  we  are,  and 
as  we  migM  to  be,  of  the  unshaken  and  unshakable  position  which 
the  Anglican  Communion  has  always  maintained,  we  mean  no 
disrespect  to  any  of  our  Christian  brethren  when  we  say  without 
hesitation,  that  we  are  persuaded  that  if  they  would  take  the  time 
to  look  into  the  actual  facts,  and  view  our  doctrine,  discipline,  and 

*  "  They  have  fallen  into  a  pit  from  which  it  will  take  some  time  to  extri- 
cate them.  But  it  has  been  ignorantly  done,  and  not  willfnlly.  They  have 
followed  blindly  in  a  beaten  track,  they  have  been  hurried  without  thought 
into  habits  and  ideas  of  religion  wliich  it  is  difficult  now  for  them  to  shake  off. 
We  are  not  to  judge  them  too  severely  for  this  .  .  .  but  we  are  to  love  them, 
and  loving  them  to  teach  them.  ...  In  their  inability  to  understand,  we 
are  to  help  them.  In  their  thirst  after  the  living  water  which  is  knowledge  we 
are  to  stand  at  the  well  and  draw  the  water  for  them.  In  their  ignorance  of 
facts  and  of  history  we  are  to  gather  together  and  set  before  them  the  account 
of  those  things  which  most  nearly  concern  them." — TheVicar  of  Provu,  "  The 
Church's  Broken  Unity,"  and  we  gladly  make  his  words  our  own. 


g^  PROTESTANT  COMMUNIONS. 

worship,  unaffected  by  prejudice,  they  would,  if  not  entirely  ready 
to  acknowledge  the  overrv^helming  strength  of  our  position,  never- 
theless have  much  cause  to  modify  what  seems  to  us  undue  irri- 
tation and  antagonism  concerning  us.  ^        ^    , 

And  this  we  have  a  right  to  ask,  because  for  the  most  part  they 
went  out  from  us  three  centuries  ago  and  later.  This  is  the 
Mother  Church  of  at  least  all  English-speaking  Christians,  bav- 
in c'  the  advantage  of  them  in  point  of  age,  and  (taking  m  the 
whole  Anglican  Communion)  having  the  advantage  of  many  of 
them  in  point  of  numbers,  and  from  another  standpoint  haying 
the  advantage  of  them  in  point  of  historic  dignity  and  achieve- 
ment. We  will  not  claim  that  our  Communion  has  the  advan- 
tage of  them  in  many  spiritual  qualities,  in  missionary  zeal,  m 
generous  furtherance  of  evangelistic  work,  in  sanctity  of  life, 
and  in  many  other  things  which  entitle  these  brethren  to  our  un- 
stinted admiration.  We  do  not  claim  as  our  exclusive  heritage 
any  good  thing  which  is  not  equally,  if  they  will,  their  own.  We 
do  not  boast  or  exult  in  our  time  and  generation  as  if  we  had 
whereof  to  glory — for  what  have  we  that  we  did  not  receive  ?  but 
we  feel  that  we'have  the  right  to  claim  fair  treatment,  which  it  is 
not  the  prevalent  habit  to  give  us;  and,  as  the  older  of  the  com- 
pany, to  receive  kindly  and  unprejudiced  consideration. 

As  to  the  charge  of  arrogance  so  frequently  made  by  some  of 
our  own  people  as  well  as  by  our  separated  brethren,  is  the  point 
well  taken?  Is  it  arrogant  to  be  earnest  for  the  truth  as  one 
perceives  it?  To  stand  firm  for  conviction,  and  outspoken  in 
defense  of  one's  rightful  heritage,  especially  when  the  one  mo- 
tive is  to  make  others  joint-heirs  with  us  and  not  keep  the  heri- 
tage to  ourselves?  Is  the  Baptist  brother  tiot  arrogant  when  he 
accounts  all  pedo-Baptists  imbaptized,  or  the  Methodist  when  he 
intimates  that  his  Episcopal  brother  is  unconverted,  or  the  Pres- 
byterian when  he  speaks  slightingly  of  Prelacy;  and  we  only 
blameworthy  when  we  seek  to  share  with  others  our  priceless 
treasures?  Were  Aquila  and  Priscilla  to  be  commended  or  con- 
demned when  they  took  Apollos,  although  he  was  mighty  in  the 
Scriptures,  and  sought  to  show  him  the  way  of  the  Lord  more 
perfectly? 

The  arrogance  of  St.  Paul  on  Mars  Hill  is  oiirs,  the  arrogance 
of  the  Christian  missionary  in  a  heathen  land,  the  arrogance  of  our 
Lord,  who  brought  a  message  which  men  neither  asked  for  nor 
believed.  The  word  insinuates  a  motive  with  which  this  great 
Communion  of  ours  can  never  justly  be  charged,  nor  any  indi- 
vidual who  upholds  her  claims.  Whatever  his  manner  or  the 
strenuousness  of  his  methods  or  words,  that  motive,  I  repeat,  is 
necessarily  a  noble  one — to  share  a  blessing  with  others  less  for- 
tunate— to  bring  about  the  Unity  in  the  Faith  for  which  our 
Saviour  prayed,  and  to  save  men's  souls  alive.* 

*Our  Presiding  Bishop  Tuttle,  just  the  other  day  in   his  charge  to  the 


BISHOP  OF  PITTSBURGH.  65 

I  believe  we  may  safely  assert  that,  whatever  impetuous  and 
narrow-minded  individuals  may  have  said  and  done,  the  authori- 
tative Anglican  position  has  always  been  perfectly  Christian,  and 
in  accord  with  the  words  of  the  Apostle,  "  prove  all  things,  hold 
fast  that  which  is  good." 

''  Even  more  important  than  unity  is  truth.  Unity  after  the 
pattern  of  men,  ajid  not  according  to  the  Will  of  Christ,  would 
not  remedy  the  evils  which  we  experience.  A  body  having  such 
unity  woidd  not  be  Holy  nor  Catholic  nor  Apostolic.  This  seems 
manifest." 

The  points  of  difference  naturally  fall  into  two  classes;  those  of 
doctrine  and  those  of  polity. 

I.  With  regard  to  doctrine,  it  is  well  known  to  many,  but  not 
to  all  of  our  contemporary  brethren  in  the  various  denominations 
of  Christians,  that  within  well-defined  and  widely  separated 
bounds,  all  varieties  of  Christian  doctrine  not  inconsistent  with 
the  Nicene  Faith  may  be  held  and  may  be  preached  among  us  with- 
out fear  or  favor.  The  Divine  guidance  vouchsafed  to  the  x\ngli- 
can  Church  is  conspicuous  in  her  wonderful  abstinence  from 
minute  definitions,  her  breadth  of  view,  her  wise  tolerance,  her 
amazing  silence  where  in  other  quarters  there  have  been  many 
diverse  and  clamoring  voices,  her  reverence  for  truth  made  mani- 
fest by  wariness  not  to  be  wise  above  that  which  is  written.  Sec- 
tarianism, whether  without  or  within,  bemoans  this  very  quality 
which  in  itself  distinguishes  the  Church  spirit  from  the  sectarian. 
There  is  no  Procrustean  bed  of  human  devising  to  which  all  the 
utterances  of  the  clerg}^  must  be  trimmed.  There  is  no  Index 
Expurgatorius  other  than  that  which  the  living  Word  of  God 
has  ordained.  There  is  no  narrow  rut  in  which  all  must  run.  On- 
lookers are  frequently  amazed,  and  sometimes  those  within  the 
ample  freedom  which  the  Church  allows,  are  grieved  and 
alarmed,  as  they  hear  some  voice  raised  in  declaration  of  that 
with  which  they  individually  do  not  agree.  But  nevertheless, 
when  one  turns  to  his  Prayer  Book,  which  is  the  present  and 
always  "up-to-date''  standard  for  what  we  are  to  believe  and 
what  we  are  to  do,  he  is  ever  re-established  in  that  which  is  the 
Church's  authoritative  deliverance,  discovers  that  the  true  liberty 
wherewith  Christ  hath  made  us  free  is  not  trammeled  in  the 
least  by  that  wonderful  book,  and  in  all  troubles  and  necessities 

Brotherhood  Convention  at  Denver  thus  gave  utterance  in   addressing  our 
separated  brethren  to  what  is  the  thought  in  all  our  hearts: 

"  We  know,  dear  friends,  that  in  the  following  of  the  Bible,  in  the  worship 
of  the  Church',  in  tlie  two  Holy  Sacraments  and  in  the  covenanted  gift  of  Con- 
firmation there  is  further  and  larger  grace  if  you  will  but  lay  hold  of  it  and 
take  it  in.  We  are  thankful  that  you  are  obedient  to  the  Holy  Spirit  in  many 
things.  We  earnestly  long  that  you  will  press  on  and  obey  Him  in  all  things. 
Meanwhile  go  on  in  the  right  as  God  gives  you  to  see  the  right.  That  far  you 
cannot  be  wrong.  Walking  earnestly  your  present  ways  before  Him,  He  will 
open  to  you  His  further  ways.  '  He  that  is  willing  to  do  His  will  shall  know 
of  the  doctrine'  is  our  Blessed  Lord's  own  promise." 


.gg  PROTESTANT  COMMUNIONS, 

finds  himsplf  romforted  and  at  peace  within  the  venerable  de- 
fenses of  the  faith  which  the  Church  provides.  Here  we  have, 
as  we  believe  the  whole  counsel  of  God,  not  a  fragment— all  the 
essentials  of  'the  faith  clear  and  positive  and  definite— a  pure, 
evangelic,  sacramental,  practical  Gospel,  preached  authoritatively 
and  continuouslv  through  varied  seasons  of  the  Christian  year^ 
Here  passes  royally  along  the  way  the  Living  Christ.  The  Church 
show/herself  serenely  confident  in  the  present,  and  sure  of  vic- 
torv  in  the  future,  no  matter  what  may  be  the  maundermgs  or 
rantings  or  half-truth-tellings  or  perverse  misinterpretations^  or 
absurd'^  self-revelations  of  individual  pulpits.  Freedom  to  wor- 
ship God  is  combined  with  freedom  to  interpret  His  word,  as  m 
no  communion  beside. 

Of  course  there  are  dangers  in  all  liberty.  Nevertheless  ulti- 
mately it  makes  for  the  whole  well-rounded  and  well-propor- 
tioned truth.*  ,   -,  ^     1  •       XT, 

And  when  one  turns  to  the  second  class  of  difficulties,  those 
which  have  to  do  with  polity,  I  am  not  aware  that  intelligent 
leaders  among  the  denominations  about  us  make  strenuous  op- 
position to  the  Preface  to  the  Ordinal.  Indeed  they  cannot  in  the 
face  of  history;  but  only  to  such  interpretation  of  it  as  flatly  in- 
validates whatever  of  commission  their  various  ministers  may 
claim,  and  this  interpretation  the  Anglican  Communion  has 
never  authoritatively  given, — while  for  executive  and  administra- 
tive fimctions  there  is  not  wanting  on  every  hand  testimony,  that 
the  eyes  of  educated  readers  of  ecclesiastical  history  as  well  as  of 
the  students  of  the  times  in  which  we  live  are  turning  with  more 
and  more  appreciation' toward  that  form  of  polity  which  recognizes 
constitutional  and  centralized  authority,  and  provides  for  an 
executive. 

God's  Providence  has  wrought  wonderful  changes  plainly  visible 
to  those  who  have  not  lived  yet  half  a  century,  in  the  condition 
of  most,  if  not  all,  of  the  Protestant  bodies.  Much  bitterness  has 
disappeared;  ecclesiastical  controversy  is  far  milder  than  it  used 
to  be;  research  is  now  pre-eminently  for  the  truth,  and  not  for 
mere  partisan  victory.f 

*  "  Tlie  Clmrch  herself  can  set  forth  only  the  truth  andean  give  her  im- 
primatur to  the  Catholic  faith  only,  but  she  can  tolerate  witliin  her  fold  per- 
sons whose  teaciiing  does  not  fully  correspond  with  the  whole  faith,  in  the 
hope  that  the  abundant  grace  of  God  will  eventually  open  their  eyes  to  the 
truth.  To  cut  them  off  would  be  to  put  them  outside  the  very  means  which 
may  in  the  end  bring  them  to  a  realization  of  the  richness  and  dignity  of  their 
spiritual  birthright.  But  we  should  remember  that  '  Precept  must  be  upon 
precept,  line  upon  line,'  and  that  God  is  leading  souls  by  different  ways  and 
by  different  degrees  of  celerity  to  the  full  apprehension  of  the  true  light.  The 
Church  is  surely  not  inconsistent  with  her  charter  of  salvation  if  she  is  a 
patient  mother  and  clings  with  tenacious  love  to  all  her  children  and  to  otliers 
as  well,  teaching  them  by  her  sacraments  and  offlces  how  great  is  the  treasure 
which  she  holds  in  store  for  them."—  C/ivrch  paper. 

f  For  example:  I  clip  this  from  a  prominent  Presbyterian  paper. 

"  On  the  twenty-seventh  day  of  this  month,  the  three  hundred  and  fiftieth 


BISHOP  OF  PITTSBURGH.  6T 

If  we  believe  that  truth  is  mighty  and  will  prevail,  may  we  not. 
well  take  heart?  For  we  are  Anglicans  because  we  believe  that  in. 
that  system  lies  the  truth,  and  so  we  need  have  no  anxiety  as  to- 
the  ultimate  result. 

II.  As  the  maintenance  of  differences  so  largely  depends  upon 
the  one  thing,  prejudice,  so,  under  God,  progress  will  be  made 
toward  unity  by  simply  one  antidote — ir7 formation;  and  that,  first 
for  our  own  people,  and  then  for  our  brethren  who  are  separated 
from  us. 

1.  The  Church  Idea  is  absolutely  absent  from  the  minds  of 
multitudes  of  otherwise  intelligent  Christian  people.  The  whole 
theory  of  the  Christian  revelation  is  misunderstood  on  every  hand. 
That  our  Lord  came  to  this  earth  to  gather  together  into  one 
communion  or  flock  all  the  children  of  God  that  are  scattered 
abroad  is  foreign  to  the  popular  Protestant  Christian  thought  and 
consciousness.  The  individualistic  idea  of  salvation  has  been 
made  so  prominent  (and  naturally  so  by  reaction  in  the  three 
centuries  of  Protestantism)  that  one  can  have  little  hope  for 
rapid  progress  in  the  cause  of  unity  until  the  truth  is  again 
brought  to  the  front  that  the  Kingdom  of  God  on  earth,  definite, 
organized,  imperial.  Catholic,  is  absolutely  necessary  for  the 
maintenance  and  defense  of  the  spiritual  truths  for  which  the 
Kingdom  stands;  absolutely  necessary  also  for  the  conversion  of 
the  world.  Our  own  people  in  large  numbers  do  not  hold  this 
clearly,  as  witnessed  by  the  apathy  with  which  wide  comprehen- 
sive plans  are  considered  and  the  hesitancy  with  which  world-wide 
movements  are  undertaken,  the  disgraceful  stinginess  of  our 
contributions  for  missions,  the  unsympathetic  attitude  of  our 
people  toward  the  evangelization  of  the  world.  The  welfare  of 
one's  own  little  parish,  the  careful  preservation  of  one's  own 
diocesan  interests,  the  paltry  and  selfish  salvation  of  one's  own 
soul, — these,  each  one,  valuable  in  its  place,  are  permitted  to 

anniversary  of  the  tragedy,  there  will  be  dedicated  on  the  spot  where  Servetus 
was  burned,  a  moiuimeiit  consisting  of  a  simple  block  of  granite,  bearing  the 
following  (translated)  inscriptions:  'Respectful  and  Grateful  Sons  of  Calvin, 
Our  Great  Reformer,  But  Condemning  an  Error  which  was  that  of  his  Age, 
And  tirmly  Attached  To  Liberty  of  Conscience  And  of  the  Gospel.  We  have- 
Erected  this  Expiatory  Monument  The  37tli  October.  1903.'  '  The  27tli 
October,  1553.  Died  at  the  Stake  at  Champel,  Michael  Servetus  of  Villeneuve,. 
Aragon.     Born  September  29th,  1511.' 

"  It  will  be  noted  that  this  singular  monument  is  being  erected  by  the  friends^ 
and  followers  of  Calvin,  the  Respectful  and  Grateful  Sons'  of  '  Our  Great  Re- 
former,' and  not  ])y  the  friends  of  Servetus,  the  victim  of  the  mistaken  but 
wicked  deed.  The  monument  on  the  one  hand  is  not  intended  to,  and  does 
not  in  any  degree,  vindicate  or  sanction  the  doctrinal  views  of  Servetus;  nor, 
on  the  other  hand,  does  it  pronounce  against  the  views  of  Calvin;  it  simply 
expre.sses  its  condemnation  of  an  act  of  intolerance,  and  it  does  this  Avith 
charity  towards  Calvin  as  having  committed  '  An  Error  which  was  that  of  his 
Age.'  The  members  of  the  Reformed  Clxurch  founded  by  Calvin,  feel  that 
they  should  repudiate  tliis  act  of  their  great  founder  and  set  themselves  right 
■with  the  world.  They  believe  it  is  better  to  tell  the  simple  trutli  and  renounce 
any  responsibility  for  and  sympathy  with  the  unfortunate  act." 


^8  PROTESTANT  COMMUNIONS. 

•overshadow  and  crowd  out  from  the  Christian  consciousness  the 
tremendous  and  significant  and  stimulating  thought  of  the  Holy 
Catholic  Church.  The  hearts  of  thousands  of  our  people,  as 
of  our  separated  brethren  as  well,  are  out  of  sympathy  (as  one 
■can  hear  on  almost  any  day  in  conversation)  with  the  infinite 
tenderness  of  our  Lord's  High  Priestly  prayer,  "That  they  all 
may  be  one,  as  Thou,  Father,  art  in  Me,  and  I  in  Thee,  that  they 
may  be  made  complete  in  one."  "But  the  thought  that  there 
was  once  a  unity  which  presented  to  the  world  an  organism 
-divinely  made,  and  termed  by  inspiration  the  Body  of  Christ, 
is  certain,  some  time,  to  be  recalled;  and  afterward  will  come 
the  search  to  find  it." 

Hence,  the  first  great  duty  that  lies  at  our  doors  is  the  educa- 
tion of  our  own  people,  by  every  means  in  our  power,  and  of  others 
as  well,  in  the  great  truth  of  the  universal  Kingdom  or  Church 
of  God,  visible  on  earth,  that  all  men  may  see  and  thus  know  that 
the  Father  hath  sent  the  Son  to  be  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 
Our  Lord  started  out  "  to  preach  the  Kingdom  of  God."  His 
message  was  called,  "  The  Good  Tidings  of  the  Kingdom,"  and 
a  kingdom  is  something  visible,  definite,  tangible,  organized,  with 
visible  officials  as  well  as  visible  citizens,  all  enshrining  and  mani- 
festing principles  of  life  and  conduct  essential  to  well-being. 
And  who  does  not  know  that  the  outer  part  is  as  essential  as  the 
inner?  Without  the  husk  the  kernel  perishes.  The  Church 
Idea,  against  which  so  many  even  of  our  own  people  are  preju- 
diced, must  find  abundant  emphasis,  or  we  cannot  hope  for  unity.* 

2.  And  with  this  continual  dwelling  upon  the  rightful,  visible 
unity  and  universality  of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  there  must  be 
particular  emphasis  on  the  sins  of  heresy  and  schism;  sins  which, 
to  the  consciousness  of  multitudes  of  Christian  people,  are  ex- 
tremely indefinite,  if  not  absolutely  merely  figures  of  speech;  sins, 
because  ascribed  in  Scripture  itself  to  Satan,  the  slanderer  of 
the  brethren  and  the  hateful  antagonist  of  the  well-proportioned, 
perfect  truth;  sins,  because  they  sow  tares  among  the  wheat; 
sins,  because  separating  brother  from  brother,  erecting  altar 
against  altar,  dividing,  in  order  that  he,  Satan  himself,  may 
conquer. 

3.  Then  there  must  be  information  and  explanation  with  regard 
to  the  divisions  that  have  taken  place  and  that  still  exist.  Our 
brethren  are  learning  very  rapidly  that  the  causes  which  origi- 
nally divided  were  secondary,  some  of  them  absolutely  trivial. 
And  among  the  signs  of  the  times  which  all  true  Churchmen 

*"  Who  would  dream  of  organizing  a  commonwealth,  an  university,  an 
army,  or  a  navy,  upon  this  principle  that  outward  and  visible  unity  need  not 
"be  considered  as  particularly  important?  And  if,  the  higlier  we  rise  in  the 
development  of  social  life,  the  more  we  feel  the  need  of  a  perfect  order,  why 
should  we  imagine,  that  in  the  structure  of  the  ideal  community,  the  Church, 
this  point  may  be  safely  disregarded.  If  the  Church  be  a  Living  Body,  unity 
belongs  to  it  of  right."—"  The  Church  Idea"  by  Dr.  Huntington. 


BISHOP  OF  PITTSBURGH.  69 

hail  with  gratitude  to  God  are  the  confederations  and  alliances, 
and,  in  some  cases,  absolute  union  of  some  bodies  of  Christians, 
greater  or  less;  all  of  them,  however,  of  modern  origination; — 
the  wide   recognition   of   the-  evil   of   strife,   keeping   Christians 
apart,  dissipating  strength,  wasting  money,  causing  the  loving 
heart  of  God  to  grieve  over  the  imperfections  of  those  who  pro- 
fess and  call  themselves  His   children.      Knowing  so   well   the 
underlying  love  which  actuates  the  whole  communion  to  which 
we  belong,  a  love  which  found  its  meagre  expression,  as  we  be- 
lieve, in  the  tentative  propositions  of  the  Lambeth-Chicago  plat- 
form, I  believe  that  to  bring  about,  even  in  one  generation,  a 
general    movement    towards    the   blessed    unity    for    which    our 
Saviour  prayed,  it  remains  only  for  each  bishop  in  his  diocese, 
and  for  each  clergyman  in  his  parish,  to  give  expression  by  word 
and  deed  to  that  kindliness  in  every  way  that  is  consistent  with 
convictions  of  truth  and  duty  and  loyalty.     There  need  never  be 
surrender  of  principle.     There  need  never  be  exasperating  re- 
crimination.    There  need  be  no  yielding  of  conviction.     There 
need  never  be  disloyalty  to  the  Holy  Church  whose  principles 
and  doctrines  we  hold."^   There  must  be  always  recognition  of 
the  immense  danger  of  gaining  outward  union  and  temporary 
advantage   at  the  expense  of  domestic   peace   and  further  and 
ultimate  advantage.     There  must  be  unwearied  patience,  cease- 
less  prayer,   and   loving   trust   in   God   and    His   promises;    and 
there  must  always  be  recognition  of  the  Nicene   Faith  of  the 
undivided  Church,  which  is  our  anchor  in  the  shifting  tides  of 
the  centuries.     But  one  need  never  fear  that  the  cause  will  be 
betrayed  by  those  who,  held  by  that  anchor,  meet  the  waves,  not 
to  buffet  them,  but  to  ride  them;  the  historic  Church  afEording 
a  refuge  for  all,  whether  of  ourselves  or  others,  who  are  more 
or  less  shipwrecked,  certainly  "all  at  sea,"  whether  on  rafts  or 
in  boats  or  on  broken  pieces  of  their  fragile  ships.     And  so  it 
shall  come  to  pass,  that  all  shall  escape  safe  to  land. 

4.  Another  department  of  information  should  be  opened.  As 
a  recent  writer  puts  it,  "  It  surely  is  time,  and  it  would  be  helpful, 
to  remind  our  friends  of  other  Christian  bodies  of  what  they  owe 
to  the  communion  which,  in  this  as  in  the  mother  land,  they 
often  treat  with  such  scant  courtesy.  They  should  remember 
that  it  was  the  Church  of  England  which,  able  to  trace  her  descent 
to  the  times  when  the  modern  theory  of  the  Papacy,  arrogating 
to  itself  the  over-lordship  of  Christendom,  was  unknown,  re- 
asserted the  ancient  right  of  national  Churches  to  govern  them- 
selves, and  gave  to  English-speaking  Christians  a  Prayer  Book  and 
a  Bible  in  the  common  tongue.  Not  a  new  Church,  but  the 
Church  of  her  fathers  reformed,  she  kept  her  children  in  spiritual 
touch  with  the  Christianity  of  the  first  centuries  and  prepared 
to  remit  to  posterity  the  blessings  of  the  liberty  wherewith  Christ 
had  made  men  free.  And  to  do  all  this  she  suffered  long  and 
sorely,  '  resisting  unto  blood '  the  attempts  of  her  enemies  to  re- 


70  PROTESTANT  COMMUNIONS. 

entangle  her  in  the  olden  'yoke  of  bondage.'  It  was  not  Pres- 
byterians and  Congregationalists,  it  was  not  Baptists  and  Meth- 
odists, who  died  in  defense  of  Christian  rights  at  Oxford  and 
Smithfield,  for  Presbyterians  and'  Congregationalists,  Baptists 
and  Methodists,  as  organized  bodies,  were  then  unknown;  it  was 
English  Churchmen  who  so  suffered;  and  it  was  not  until  the 
battle  with  Rome  had  been  practically  won  that  the  earliest  of 
the  denominations  to  which  reference  has  been  made  came  into 
existence."  * 

5.  Still  another  truth, — a  commonplace  to  us,  but  often  lost 
sight  of  by  Protestantism,— is  the  underlying  basis  of  the  one 
Baptism.  It  is  news  to  great  numbers  of  otherwise  fairly  intelli- 
gent Christian  people  that  no  one  can  possibly  be  baptized  into 
the  Methodist  communion,  or  the  Baptist  or  the  Presbyterian 
or  the  Protestant  Episcopal,  but  only  and  always  into  the  one 
Church  of  Christ,  primitive,  apostolic,  universal.  Hence  unity 
is  to  be  had,  not  by  leaving  one  Church  for  another,  but  by  all 
alike  recognizing  tlieir  membership  in  the  one  Church  of  Christ, 
and  learning  to  make  use  of  all  the  privileges  which  belong  of 
right  to  every  member  of  that  Church — ^its  ministry,  its  ordi- 
nances, its  promise  of  perpetuity  until  the  end  of  the  world. 

Privilege,  standing,  authority,  continuity,  permanence — these 
all  await  the  separated  children  of  the  Reformation, — their  own 
property, — ^of  which  they  are  ignorant,  and,  because  ignorant, 
careless  and  indifferent.  To  tell  them  of  all  this  is  no  arrogant 
task  of  ours,  but  a  fraternal  and  Christ-like  duty,  whether  they 
will  hear  or  whether  they  will  forbear.  The  bishops,  as  they 
make  their  visitations  and  have  opportunity  to  address  multi- 
tudes of  our  denominational  brethren,  might  well  urge  these  un- 
familiar, but  intensely  practical  thoughts  upon  the  attention  of 
the  usually  crowded  congregations.  They  are  seed  thoughts,  and 
must  by  God's  blessing  surely  bring  forth  fruit. 

6.  In  the  meantime,  as  urged  by  one  of  our  Church  papers, 
"  Churchmen  ought  to  be  employed  carefully  in  rigid  self-exam- 
ination that  we  may  root  out  from  our  own  body,  which  is  a  part 
of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  everything  that  pertains  to  sectarianism. 
We  must  prepare  ourselves  for  the  future  unity  that  awaits  the 
larger  extension  of  the  desire  for  it  among  all  Christian  people. 
American  Churchmen  are  not  themselves  possessed  of  the  tem- 
per which  will  lead  towards  unity.  It  must  be  the  primary  duty 
of  all  Churchmen  to  foster  the  spirit  which  will  tend  thereto."  f 

*  From  The  Kortfieagf. 

•f  "  At  least  the  Church  nnist  recognize  tliat  the  one  broad,  cohesive  pro- 
gramme for  the  Church's  future  is'^tliat  pronuilgated  by  Catholic-minded 
men.  It,  and  it  alone,  embraces  the  entire  foreign  and  domestic  relations  of 
the  Church.  It  alone  contemplates  reform  of  ourselves  as  the  first  preliminary 
toward  future  reunion.  Other  schemes  have  been  eloquent  in  urging  other 
people  to  reform.  This  turns  the  search-light  within  and  tries  first  to  point 
out  and  then  to  eradicate  what,  on  our  part,  stands  in  the  way  of  Christian 
Unity.     Unity,  without  surrender  of  historic  truth,  is  our  sroal/    The  question 


BISHOP  OF  PITTSBURGH.  71 

One  generation  is  not  much  in  the  life  of  a  Church.  We  must 
l3e  satisfied  if,  in  our  lives,  we  accomplish  just  a  little  in  the 
•direction  of  that  which  all  Christian  disciples  most  fervently 
desire. 

If  this  Conference  cares  to  make  any  pronouncement  upon  this 
subject,  I  would  venture  to  suggest,  with  deference,  six  points, 
as  follows : 

POINTS   SUGGESTED   FOR  RESOLUTIONS. 

1.  A  declaration  that,  notwithstanding  differences,  we  believe 
ihe  underlying  basic  baptismal  unity,  which  cannot  be  denied, 
gives  promise  of  (aye,  makes  inevitable)  the  fulfillment  of  our 
Lord's  High  Priestly  Prayer,  and  calls  for  diligent  effort  on  the 
part  of  all  Christian  people. 

2.  That  we  of  the  Anglican  Communion  pledge  ourselves  anew 
to  constant  thought  and  prayer  and  conscientious  effort  towards 
unity,  and  earnestly  call  our  separated  brethren  to  the  same,  and 
to  the  mutual  study  of  the  things  which  make  for  peace. 

3.  That,  believing  our  position  to  be  much  misunderstood  and 
misrepresented,  we  urge  upon  our  people  more  widespread  and 
popular  use  of  newspapers,  tracts,  and  similar  literature  to  dispel 
ignorance  and  remove  prejudice,  as  far  as  possible,  among  all 
Christian  people. 

4.  That  we  remind  our  separated  brethren  that  the  Anglican 
position  as  to  doctrine  remains  absolutely  unchanged  since  the 
denominations  were  organized,  and  because  the  spirit  and  temper 
of  all  earnest-minded  Christian  people  have  been  so  modified  by 
God's  grace,  we  believe  that  there  is  good  reason  to  hope  that 
progress  mav  now  be  made  towards  unity  of  feeling  and  of  work. 

5.  That  points  of  agreement  with  the  larger  bodies  being 
numerous  and  fundamental,  while  disagreements  are  fewer  and 
avowedly  in  a  considerable  degree  secondary,  we  are  ready  to  dis- 
cuss these  latter  points  in  a  spirit  of  charity  wherever  a  like 
spirit  is  manifested  by  any  of  our  denominational  brethren. 

6.  That,  inasmuch  as  the  faith  and  the  polity  which  we  repre- 
sent have  withstood  the  vicissitudes  of  well-nigh  nineteen  cen- 
turies, while  the  divisions  we  deplore  are  of  modern  origin,  and 
the  various  organizations  already  manifestly  giving  token  of  rapid 
changes  if  not  of  disintegration,  there  is  reason  to  think  that 

before  Churchmen  is  not  when  tliey  will  attain  it,  but  when  they  will  begin  to 
try  It  is  a  scheme  that  may  ultimately  cover  centuries,  and  we  are  not  dis- 
couraged  that  even  the  first  steps  are  taken  .slowly.  Other  reforms  m  the 
Church  have  been  obliged,  similarly,  to  await  their  'fullness  of  time.  A 
'  Morning  Star '  had  to  precede  by  two  centuries  the  sixteenth  century  Ket- 
ormation"  In  our  own  day,  the  Divorce  Reform  movement  has  had  to  under- 
go the  same  delay.  First  an  academic  question,  then  acceptance  by  our 
Bishops,  then  by  our  lower  Clergy,  then  by  our  laity,  tlien  will  result  practical 
realization." 


72  PROTESTANT  COMMUNIONS. 

return  to  well-tried  and,  as  we  believe,  primitive  principles  will, 
erelong,  result  in  primitive  unity.  Thus,  as  there  is  and  always 
has  been  but  one  body  and  one  spirit,  one  hope  of  our  calling, 
one  Lord,  one  faith,  and  one  baptism,  all  Christian  people  may 
be  brought  to  be  all  of  one  heart  and  one  soul,  united  in  one  holy 
bond  of  truth  and  peace,  of  faith  and  charity,  and  may  with  one 
mind  and  one  mouth  glorify  God,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 


THURSDAY  MOEXING. 

Fifth  Topic. 

THE    ATTITUDE     OF     OUR    CHURCH     TOWARD     THE 
PROTESTANT  COMMUNIONS   AROUND   HER. 

(b)  POINTS  OF  DIFFERENCE  AND  THEIR  EMPHASIS. 

Second  Paper. 

The  Right  Rev.  John  Philip  Du  Moulin,  D.C.L., 

BISHOP  OF  NIAGARA. 

It  is  my  duty  to  follow  my  Eight  Eeverend  brother  and  to  deal 
with  points  of  difference  and  their  explanation. 

In  attempting  this  I  will  try  to  look  at  some  points  of  difference 
from  the  Canadian  standpoint. 

1.  I  am  sorry  to  think  and  to  say  that  there  does  not  appear 
to  be  any  ver}^  cordial  desire  on  the  part  of  our  separated  brethren 
for  reunion.  This  I  submit  is  a  just  inference  to  be  drawn  from 
the  history  of  this  movement  to  the  present  time. 

The  Church  has  recognized  the  duty  of  the  parent  to  seek  her 
lost  children.  For  nearly  fifty  years  "the  matter  of  reunion  has 
been  kept  alive  in  the  Northern  and  Southern  Convocations  of 
the  Church  of  England.  The  Church  in  Australia  and  in  Canada, 
in  1886,  petitioned  the  then  coming  Lambeth  Conference  to  deal 
with  the  matter.  But  the  most  decided  and  practical  action  was 
taken  by  the  American  Church  in  the  General  Convention  of  1886 
on  the  petition  of  more  than  a  thousand  clergv,  including  thirty- 
two  bishops.  The  Convention,  having  considered  the  matter, 
formulated  four  articles  as  a  basis  of  negotiations  for  reunion, 
and  desired  that  it  should  be  made  known  to  our  separated 
brethren  that  the  Church  was  ready  to  meet  them  in  brotherly 
conference  with  a  view  to  approaching  some  settlement  of  our 
unhappy  divisions.  The  same  business  was  dealt  with  in  the 
Pan- Anglican  Council  held  in  1888.  This  most  representative 
body  of  our  communion,  including  bishops  of  the  Holv  Catholic 
Church,  assembled  from  divers  parts  of  the  earth  at  Lambeth 
and  discussed  the  whole  matter  with  patience  and  charity.  A 
Committee  was  appointed,  and  it  duly  reported,  reciting  the^  steps 


•  BISHOP  OF  NIAGARA.  75 

that  had  been  taken  in  this  direction,  setting  out  the  four  articles 
put  forth  by  the  American  Church,  now  known  as  the  Lambetk 
Quadrilateral,  recommending  that  all  this  be  made  known  to  the 
bodies  outside,  that  information  be  circulated  as  to  our  position, 
that  prayers  be  offered,  that  every  right  step  be  taken  toward 
honorable  reunion. 

Nearly  twenty  years  have  elapsed  since  the  action  of  the  Gen- 
eral Convention  of  1886,  followed  by  the  Lambeth  Report  and 
Eesolutdons  of  1888.  The  action  of  the  Pan-Anglican  Conference 
was  the  nearest  approach  in  modern  days  to  the  pronouncement 
of  a  general  council.  It  was  as  far  as  possible  authoritative.  It 
was  definite,  reasonable,  and  was  intended  to  be  an  overture  of 
peace,  brotherly  love,  and  desire  for  union  to  all  the  bodies  out- 
side. Such  proposals  most  surely  deserved  the  respectful  and 
careful  consideration  of  all  concerned.  So  far  as  I  have  been 
able  to  ascertain,  no  formal  acknowledgment  or  answer,  as  wide 
and  authoritative  as  the  overture,  has  ever  been  put  forth  by 
those  addressed. 

The  frantic  appeals  of  Canon  Henson  from  the  pulpit  of  the 
venerable  Abbey  and  in  the  public  press,  and  the  presence  and 
amenities  of  Canon  Fleming  at  the  installation  of  the  new  pastor 
at  the  City  Temple,  have  evoked  no  general  response.  This  is- 
not  surprising,  for  it  could  hardly  be  expected  that  the  sugges- 
tions and  advances  of  the  Pan-Anglican  Conference  being  dis- 
regarded, the  voices  of  private  individuals  would  produce  better 
results. 

Our  experience  in  Canada  has  been  similar.  Our  synods  have 
taken  up  the  subject  of  unity  and  have  from  time  to  time  ap- 
pointed committees  to  meet  representatives  from  the  other  bodies. 
Meetings  have  been  held  in  Toronto  and  elsewhere:  papers  have 
been  read  from  side  to  side;  courtesies  have  been  exchanged,  but 
no  substantial  results  have  followed.  The  initiative  in  such  pro- 
ceedings has  been  uniformly  taken  by  the  Church,  and  the 
response  has  been  in  effect,  •*  AVe  come  to  meet  you  because 
you  desire  it  rather  than  because  we  have  any  hope  of  suc- 
cess." 

Indeed,  large  numbers  of  our  separated  brethren  are  quite  satis- 
fied with  the  present  position  of  things.  They  consider  that  the 
unity  of  the  spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace  is  all-sufficient;  they 
desire  nothing  more.  Others  are  content  with  the  platform  of 
the  Evangelical  Alliance,  "  Let  us  agree  to  differ."  There  is  also 
a  very  wide  expression  of  this  sentiment,  •*  So  long  as  the  Church 
holds  herself  aloof  from  our  platforms  and  projects,  and  refuses 
an  interchange  of  pulpit  ministrations,  it  is  useless  to  discuss  the 
subject  of  reunion."  So  far  as  one  can  observe  and  judge  from 
actions,  there  is  not  much  desire  on  the  part  of  Protestant  bodies 
outside  for  entrance  into  the  Church.  They  are  altogether  self- 
satisfied.  They  do  not  acknowledge  that  we  have  anything  of  im- 
portance  to  give  them  which  they   do  not  possess  themselves. 


■tj^  PROTESTANT  COMMUNIONS. 

They  are  strong  in  self-confidence  and  not  infrequently  in  self- 
glorification. 

2.  It  is  important  to  observe  that  this  unresponsive  position 
of  the  denominations  is  strengthened  by  their  success.  In  Canada 
the  Methodists  stand  first  of  the  Protestant  bodies,  numbering 
916  886,  the  Presbyterians  second,  numbering  842,442,  the 
■Church' third,  numbering  680,620.  Their  properties  and  pos- 
sessions are  in  like  proportion.  The  Presbyterians,  Methodists, 
Baptists,  Congregationalists,  and  others  have  costly  churches, 
•colleges,  parsonages,  and  properties  all  over  the  Dominion.  In 
the  cities  they  pay  larger  stipends  to  their  ministers  than  those 
paid  by  the  Church.  They  are  lavish  in  expenditure  on  organs, 
choirs,  and  services.  Their  church  newspapers  are  well  con- 
ducted and  enter  the  homes  of  all  their  people.  The  "  Methodist 
Book  Eoom,"  as  it  is  called,  is  one  of  the  largest,  best  conducted, 
and  most  profitable  publishing  concerns  in  the  country.  But  a 
far  more  important  matter  is  this  that  they  gather  in  from  their 
people  and  lay  out  on  their  missions  work  in  the  home  and  foreign 
fields,  a  great  deal  more  than  is  contributed  or  expended  by  the 
Church  for  the  same  objects.  The  Presbyterian  body  for  the 
coming  year  have  called  for  $300,000  for  their  mission  work, 
the  M'etiiodists  for  $250,000,  while  the  Church  is  struggling  to 
Tealize  $75,000  for  her  missions,  home  and  foreign. 

Is  it  therefore  a  matter  of  wonder  that  the  Protestant  com- 
munions outside  the  Church  are  inflated  with  success,  contented 
with  their  position,  desiring  nothing  beyond  their  ever-increasing 
growth,  and  condescending  and  patronizing  rather  than  deferring 
at  air  to  the  Church?  The  Methodists  have  practically  re- 
nounced the  name  "  Weslevan  "  and  call  themselves  the  Great 
Methodist  Church.  The  Presbyterians  are,  The  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Canada. 

As  further  evidence  that  there  does  not  exist  on  the  part  of 
the  bodies  without  any  strong  and  general  desire  for  corporate 
unity,  we  may  observe  that  such  large  Christian  bodies  as  the 
Presbyterians  and  Methodists,  who  hold  in  common  the  same 
iorm  of  ministry  and  methods  of  worship  and  order,  do  not 
incline  to  blend  together  and  unite  for  the  saving  of  money,  labor, 
.and  strength,  and  for  the  glory  of  God. 

If  they  be  thus  slow  to  unite  with  each  other,  preferring  to 
remain  apart,  the  hope  is  not  greatly  encouraged  that  they  should 
I)e  quick  to  unite  with  us.  It  should  also  be  noticed  that  the 
raison  d'etre  of  some  of  the  outside  bodies,  such  as  the  Baptist 
Itody,  being  contrary  to  our  fundamental  principles,  would  abso- 
lutely stand  in  the  way  of  reunion. 

In  England  the  matters  Just  referred  to  stand  reversed.  The 
Church  is  established  and  richly  endowed.  Lordly  titles  and 
estates  are  hers.  The  magnificent  cathedrals,  abbeys,  the  ancient 
universities  and  churches  of  the  land  are  her  heritages.  The 
bishops  are  lords  spiritual.    The  Primate  in  order  of  state  follows 


BISHOP  OF  NIAGARA. 


15 


the  royal  family.  The  Book  of  Common  Prayer  is  enrolled  among 
the  archives  of  the  Constitution.  The  prestige  of  the  Estab- 
lished Church  is  unquestionable.  All  this  is  viewed  by  the  non- 
conformists with  feelings  of  resentment  and  envy  easily  under- 
stood. Thev  are  ever  ready  to  Join  with  all  revolutionists  who 
cry,  "Down' with  the  Establishment."  The  attitude  of  the  prin- 
cipal nonconforming  bodies  is  largely  political  and  historical. 
The  alliteration  "popery  and  prelacy"  tells  of  fierce  struggles 
between  the  state  and  noncomformists,  recalling  the  phrase  of 
King  James,  "  Xo  bishop,  no  king." 

The  Independents,  Anabaptists,  Quakers  and  others  have 
fought  and  been  fought  in  civil  as  well  as  religious  encounter. 
The  popular  Presbyterian  mind  decides  the  question  of  a  liturgy 
not  so  much  bv  an  appeal  to  Biblical  or  Patristic  lore  as  by  the 
recollection  of"Jeanie  Geddes  and  her  stool.  The  recent  Educa- 
tion Bill  has  made  wide  the  cleavage  between  the  Church  and 
<!lissent. 

Some  of  our  brethren  in  England  of  extremist  type  have 
adopted  almost  everything  Romish — vestments,  ceremonies,  ter- 
minology, calling  the  Holy  Communion  the  Mass,  celebrating  it 
Avith  ritual  as  like  Eome  as  possible,  and,  as  in  a  conspicuous 
case  recentlv,  this  ended  by  an  Anglican  priest,  his  curates,  part 
of  his  congregation,  and  Sunday-school,  all  marching  from  their 
parish  church  into  the  nearest  Roman  Catholic  establishment  and 
there  submitting  themselves  to  the  Roman  o])edience. 

Such  misfortunes  do  not  make  for  unity.  The  Church  of 
England  has  been  sorely  wounded  in  the  house  of  her  friends,  and 
the  power  which  her  peculiar  position  of  moderation  ought  to 
give  her  in  the  business  of  mediation  and  reconciliation  has  been 
disastrously  minimized  and  weakened. 

The  noncomformists  of  to-day  resist  with  all  their  force  the  at- 
tendance of  their  children  at  "schools  where  the  Church  holds 
influence,  and  have  banded  themselves  together  in  a  system  of 
passive  resistance  to  the  recent  Education  Act,  which  means 
nothing  else  than  rebellious  breaches  of  the  law  of  the  land. 

In  the  United  States  and  in  British  North  America,  our  eccle- 
siastical nomenclature  has  given  us  a  deal  of  trouble.  We  call 
ourselves  "  The  Church  of  England  in  Canada,"  and  we  get  the 
full  benefit  of  the  name.  The  outside  bodies  identify  us  with 
our  great  mother.  By  this  all  her  glories  and  all  her  mistakes 
should  become  in  a  measure  ours.  But  as  poor  human  nature 
is  ever  more  quick  to  remember  the  mistakes  than  the  glories, 
so  we  sometimes  come  in  for  more  blame  than  praise  by  our  con- 
nection with  the  Church  of  England. 

There  is  some  ground  for  the  way  in  which  we  are  regarded 
in  Canada  as  an  offshoot  from  the  State  Church.  We  began  as 
a  State  Church  in  some  degree.  Royal  grants  in  land  were  made 
to  the  Church  in  British  North  America.  "Crown  rectories" 
were  established  and  endowed.     They  still  exist.     Our  bishops 


tjQ  PROTESTANT  COMMUNIONS. 

and  their  successors  were  named  "  lord  bishops  "  in  letters  patent 
from  the  crown.     In  the  table  of  precedence  now  m  nse  at  the 
<!eat  of  government,  archbishops  go  before  bishops,  and  bishops 
coming  next,  take  precedence  of  other  ministers  of  religion.     All 
these  matters  smack  very  strongly  of  a  State  Church. 

Such  things  mav  be  very  small,  but  the  mmds  of  people  are 
just  a«  small  The  leading  Presbyterian  minister  in  the  city  of 
Ottawa  after  the  recent  visit  of  the  Prince  of  Wales,  devoted  his 
Sunday-morning  sermon  to  an  attack  on  the  court  regulations 
whereby  the  bishops  are  appointed  to  go  before  the  ministers  m  a 
procession  at  Government  House  from  the  drawing  room  to  the 
dining  hall.  AVe  have  lately  been  visited  by  three  emissaries  from 
England — a  Presbvterian  minister,  the  successor  of  the  late  Dr. 
Parker  at  the  Citv  Temple,  and  a  Methodist  minister  of  note. 
These  men  expounded  to  the  Canadian  people  the  Education  Act 
as  passed  in  England,  and  inflamed  their  minds  against  the 
Church  in  a  matter  with  which  on  this  side  we  have  nothing- 

to  do. 

Such  occurrences  are  hindrances,  and  calculated  to  thwart  m  a 
large  measure  the  Church's  efforts  to  bring  about  godly  union 
and  concord. 

3.  A  further  and  a  formidable  hindrance  presents  itself  in  the 
constant  projection  of  new  and  outlandish  sects  or  movements, 
depending  at  their  outset  and  for  their  future  on  the  personality 
of  their  founders. 

Such  is  the  Christian  Science  movement,  its  head  and  founder 
a  woman,  her  ideas  as  reflected  in  her  book  hazy,  confused,  unin- 
telligible. Its  whole  basis  is  a  contradiction  to  living  life  and 
reality.  Its  growth  and  its  wealth  are  enormous.  In  thirty  years 
this  body,  opposed  as  it  is  to  fact,  experience,  and  even  common 
sense,  has,  notwithstanding,  attained  a  prodigious. growth. 

How  almost  impossible  any  attempt  to  persuade  such  a  leader 
and  such  followers  that  their  schism  is  an  evil  to  be  abandoned 
and  undone.  The  head  and  founder  of  Christian  Science  is  deified 
by  her  more  than  enthusiastic  disciples.  If  the  Goddess  of  Reason 
is  identified  with  a  bloody  and  turbulent  period  of  human  history, 
is  the  Goddess  of  Unreason  likely  to  be  less  troublesome?  Who 
could  persuade  an  idolized  and  vain  woman?  Who  could  convince 
her  wild  worshipers? 

Whatever  be  the  extravagances  of  Christian  Science,  they  are 
greatly  exceeded  by  those  of  Dowie  and  Dowieism,  the  most 
audacious  impostor  of  modern  days.  Founded  and  conducted 
by  a  pseudo-prophet.  Elijah  the  Eestorer.  episcopally  robed,  the 
head  of  a  city  and  of  a  large  following,  with  a  keen  eye  to  busi- 
ness, the  receiver  of  large  revenues,  the  leader  and  commander  of 
a  strange  army,  is  engaged,  while  we  are  meeting  here,  in  storming 
Xew  York  City. 

To  persuade  such  a  man  and  such  multitudes  to  haul  down 
their  flag  and  confess  themselves  invaders  of  the  Church's  unity. 


BISHOP  OF    NIAGARA.  77 

troiiblers  of  Zion  and  divisionists  would  "be  about  the  most  seem- 
ingly hopeless  undertaking. 

A  more  gracious  part  of  one's  duty  would  be,  in  closing  this 
enumeration  of  differences,  to  offer  some  explanations  of  positions 
so  antagonistic  t-o  union. 

But  it  is  not  easy  to  explain  such  matters  as  we  have  referred 
to  in  a  way  so  satisfactory  as  to  remove  them  from  the  path  of 
great  hindrances  to  our  Divine  Master's  idea  and  prayer  for  one- 
ness in  body,  spirit,  and  action. 

And  yet  we  would  fain  cling  to  the  hope  that  His  Divine 
prayer,  followed  by  the  less  •  perfect  intercessions  of  His  Holy 
Church,  will  one  day  have  an  answer;  that  His  forces  will  yet 
be  so  consolidated  that  the  world  may  believe  in  His  divine  mis- 
sion. This  most  certainly  we  should  look  for  and  expect.  That 
for  it  we  must  learn  to  labor  and  to  wait  there  can  be  little 
doubt.  The  pendulum  of  public  feeling  in  such  matters  swings 
from  side  to  side.  A  centur}^  ago  the  English-speaking  people 
habitually  indulged  in  swearing.  Dueling  was  an  honorable  act. 
Gross  and  brutal  drunkenness  was  a  part  of  gentlemanly  hos- 
pitality. At  the  beginning  of  the  last  century  the  Church  was 
little  conscious  of  her  missionary  responsibility  and  consequently 
inactive  in  the  field  of  the  world.  To  predict  an  utter  revolution 
in  these  matters  would  have  been  regarded  as  an  enthusiast's 
dream.  But  the  revolution  has  taken  place.  The  Spirit  of  God 
has  moved  men's  hearts,  and  before  his  fiery  breath  the  dead 
stand  on  their  feet  an  exceedingly  great  army.  Why  should  it 
not  be  so  in  this  matter?  Nothing  surely  can  l3e  plainer  than  the 
evil  and  unprofitableness,  the  impediments,  the  waste,  the  evil 
spirit,  the  uncharitableness  of  our  unhappy  divisions.  Why 
should  it  be  thought  incredible  that  the  followers  of  the  one 
Christ  everywhere  should  some  day  all  awaken  to  a  sense  of  this 
and  strive  to  heal  the  wounds  of  His  body?  There  is  ground, 
abundant  ground  for  faith  and  hope  in  the  irresistible,  all-sub- 
duing power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  over  human  hearts.  Already  we 
see  the  coming  together  of  various  kinds  of  Presbyterians  in  one 
body  and  the  different  sorts  of  Methodists  in  one  Methodist  com- 
munion. These  are  steps  in  the  right  direction.  The  agglom- 
eration of  these  bodies  around  the  Church  would  be  a  powerful 
appeal  to  the  rest  of  divided  Christendom  to  come  together  like- 
wise, and  so  the  movement,  once  begun,  would  proceed  rapidly. 
This  has  been  God's  method  in  the  past — why  not  in  the 
future  ? 

Be  it  ours  to  hope  that  among  the  wide  ranks  of  the  sundered 
and  self-satisfied  there  be  many  true  souls  yearning  for  the  end 
of  dissensions,  and  for  one  body,  one  spirit,  and  one  hope  of  our 
calling,  one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism. 

Be  it  ours  to  avoid  all  occasions  of  misunderstanding.  To  be 
courteous,  charitable,  considerate,  broad-minded  toward  our  sep- 
arated brethren;  to  work  -u-ith  them  as  far  as  possible;  always  to 


78  EVANGELIZING  DEPENDENT  RACES  IN  AMERICA. 

leave  the  impression  that,  instead  of  disparaging,  we  love  them 
and  long  for  a  full  corporate  reunion  of  the  Body  of  Christ. 

Be  it  ours  to  pray  constantly  that  all  may  come  to  see  the 
great  danger  we  are  in  by  our  unhappy  divisions,_  that  henceforth 
we  may  atl  he  of  one  heart  and  of  one  soul,  united  m  one  holy 
hond  of  truth  and  peace,  of  faith  and  charity,  and  may,  with  one 
mind  and  one  mouth,  glorify  the  one  God. 

And  while  we  do  all  this  the  vision  will  come  to  us  clearer 
ever  clearer  of  the  one  army  of  the  Living  God,  with  ranks  closed 
up   marching  to  the  conquest  of  the  world,  and  the  while  enjoy- 
ing to  the  full  the  goodness  and  the  pleasantness  of  dwelling 
together  in  unity. 


r     ■:  THUESDAY  AFTEENOOK 

Sixth  Topic. 

METHODS  OF  THE  CHUECH'S  WOEK  IK  EVAI^GELIZIXG 
THE  SPECIALLY  DEPENDENT  EACES  IN  AMEEICA. 

(a)  THE  NEGRO  RACE. 

First  Paper. 

The  Right  Rev.  Alfred  Magill  Randolph,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

BISHOP  OF  SOUTHERN  VIRGINIA. 

Christianity,  in  its  relations  to  the  problems  of  the  education 
and  the  regeneration  of  the  Negro  race,  occupies  a  position 
identical  with  its  attitude  toward  all  other  branches  of  the  family 
of  mankind.  The  question  of  the  conversion  of  the  Negro  race, 
not  only  here,  but  in  its  original  home,  with  its  hundreds  of  mil- 
lions of  population,  is  identical  both  in  relation  to  duty  and  to 
possibility. 

Of  the  Indian,  the  Hindoo,  the  African,  and  the  Mongolian, 
we  ask,  Is  he  a  man?  Has  he  a  conscience?  Has  he  a  spiritual 
nature?  Has  he  an  instinctive  belief  that  he  will  live  after 
death?  that  he  will  exist  in  another  world  in  his  personal  identity 
and  consciousness,  just  as  he  has  continued  to  exist  beyond  yes- 
terday into  to-day,  and  every  day  of  his  life?  If  he  has  these 
characteristics  which  define  and  identify  human  nature  under- 
neath all  of  its  physiological  and  ethnological  variations,  then 
there  is  not  only  an  adaptation,  but  a  need  and  a  hope  and  a 
necessity  which  the  revelation  of  God  in  Christ  alone  can  satisfy. 

In  our  generation,  even  among  scientific  skeptics  and  philos- 
ophers of  the  materialistic  school,  we  have  passed  beyond  the 
crude  speculations  and  unscientific  conjectures  of  the  middle  of 
the  last  century,  proposing  the  theory  of  the  diversity  of  origin 
as  the  explanation  of  the  variations  in  the  types  of  mankind.     In 


BISHOP  OF  SOUTHERN  VIRGINIA.  79 

the  realm  of  mind,  of  ethics,  and  of  spirit,  experience  in  the  edu- 
cation of  the  lowest  forms  of  human  intelligence,  the  recognition 
of  conscience,  undeveloped  and  distorted,  but  still  existing  in  the 
deepest  degradations  of  humanity,  and  the  universality  of  the 
beliefs  of  natural  religion,  all  point  to  the  unity  of  mankind. 
While  the  theory  of  variation  of  origin  has  only  external 
divergences  for  its  support,  it  has  internal  and  physiological  unity 
and  identity  for  its  refutation.  As  far  as  we  can  generalize  from 
the  testimony  of  history,  there  is  a  persistent  tendency  and  in- 
stinct in  these  divergences  to  perpetuate  themselves  and  to  pre- 
serve racial  autonomy  and  integrity;  and  the  higher  the  race  the 
wider  its  providential  destiny  and  work,  the  stronger  the  develop- 
ment of  this  instinct.  Each  race  doubtless  has  its  mission  to 
fulfill  in  the  growth  of  civilization  and  in  the  progress  of  the 
regenerating  power  of  Christianity;  and  the  philosophy  of  history 
warrants  the  induction  that,  as  each  individual  has  his  place  of 
influence  and  duty  to  fill  in  the  great  brotherhood  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church,  as  each  branch  of  the  Church  has  its  contribution 
to  render  and  its  stone  to  carve  for  the  great  temple  of  the  King- 
dom of  God  in  the  world,  so  each  race  has  its  divine  lesson  to 
teach  and  the  results  of  its  experience  to  impart  to  the  ever- 
growing fabric  of  human  civilization. 

If  that  is  true,  we  have  the  solution  of  that  unwritten  law  for 
the  preservation  of  the  races  in  their  integrity,  found  in  the 
highest  development  in  the  white  race,  the  leading,  guiding,  and 
governing  race  of  mankind,  but  found  in  them  all.  The  lower 
races  have,  as  we  might  expect  to  find,  less  of  race  dignity,  and 
less  sense  of  degradation  in  yielding  to  animal  passions  transcend- 
ing racial  bounds,  from  an  aspiration  to  rise  in  contact  with  a 
superior  race;  yet  among  the  lower,  where  the  conscience  has 
been  enlightened  and  quickened  by  the  redeeming  grace  of  the 
Grospel,  the  commingling  of  races  in  any  form  becomes  identified 
with  the  degradation  of  both,  and  race  diversity  itself  becomes 
the  occasion  of  the  development  of  the  consciousness  of  spiritual 
unity,  in  which  the  lower  is  lifted  by  the  hand  of  the  higher  to 
a  sense  of  its  dignity  as  members  of  Christ,  as  children  of  God,  as 
inheritors  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 

Sir  Henry  M.  Stanley,  the  great  modern  traveler  and  perhaps 
the  widest  observer  of  the  races  of  mankind,  closes  his  testimony 
in  these  words :  "  In  all  my  travels  I  have  seen  nothing  more 
wonderful  than  this,  that  in  whatever  disguise  I  have  found  man, 
something  in  him  seems  to  justify  the  belief  that  we  are  all  the 
children  of  one  Father."  His  impression,  developing  into  a  pro- 
found conviction  from  long-continued  and  varied  observation  and 
experience,  was  that  man,  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest,  is  a 
child  of  God,  having  in  him  conscience  and  a  spirit  separating 
him  by  an  infinite  gulf  from  the  animal  world.  The  Bible 
prophecies  were  made  thousands  of  years  ago  upon  the  same 
impression,  the  same  profound  conviction.     The  prophet  looked 


80  EVANGELIZING  DEPENDENT  RACES  IN  AMERICA. 

out  upon  the  world  with  its  diverse  races  as  we  do  to-day.  He 
saw  underneath  all  their  variations  that  they  were  men,  as  he 
was  a  man.  They  had  a  reason,  a  conscience,  a  spiritual  nature, 
a  heart  as  he  had,  and  upon  these  facts  he  predicted  that  the 
worship  of  one  God  would  supersede  the  worship  of  all  false 
gods.  He  saw  the  prophecy  in  the  mind  of  man,  in  the  type  of 
religion  for  which  he  was  made,  and  which,  however  overlaid, 
would  in  the  final  event  assert  itself.  The  world  was  against  him, 
and  he  a  representative  of  one  little  nation.  But  he  saw  to  the 
bottom  and  grasped  the  ultimate  principle.  Polytheism  in  the 
light  of  that  principle  must  be  only  a  temporary  phase  of  illusion. 
The  venerable  creeds,  the  deep  philosophies,  were  empty  and  arti- 
ficial and  untrue  to  human  nature,  to  its  wants,  its  need,  its  cry, 
its  foundation  convictions.  Upon  that  basis,  with  absolute  cer- 
tainty, he  predicted  the  death  of  Polytheism  and  the  universal 
worship  of  and  prevalence  of  the  idea  of  one  God.  We  have 
their  prophecies,  and  by  the  side  of  those  prophecies  we  have  the 
fulfillment  which  has  progressively  verified,  and  will  continue  to 
verify,  the  principle  upon  which  they  were  made  thousands  of 
years  ago. 

If  man  has  a  conscience,  a  reason,  a  heart,  the  redemption  of 
Christianity  for  time  and  for  eternity  is  for  him.  There  are 
obstacles  to  Christianity,  and  have  been  from  the  day  of  Christ's 
Ascension,  when  He  issued  His  parting  command :  "  Go  ye  into 
all  the  world  and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature  " — "  Lo, 
I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world."  Obstacles 
are  presented  by  different  civilizations  and  special  characteristics 
of  races  and  nations;  but  Christianity  has  not  listened  to  any 
argument  to  prove  that  any  race  or  nation  is  impervious  to  the 
appeal  and  congenitally  blind  to  the  light  of  the  Gospel.  More 
than  a  hundred  years  ago,  the  most  brilliant  writer  of  his  genera- 
tion in  England,  in  an  article  in  the  Edinburgh  Review,  written 
to  prove  the  folly  of  the  efforts  and  expenditure  for  the  con- 
version of  the  natives  of  India  and  to  urge  its  abandonment,  has 
these  words :  "  If  a  Hindoo  is  irreligious,  or,  in  other  words,  if 
he  loses  his  caste,  he  is  deserted  by  father,  mother,  by  wife  and 
child,  and  kindred  and  friends,  and  becomes  instantly  a  solitary 
wanderer  upon  the  earth.  We  do  not  say  it  is  difficult  to  convert 
the  Chinese  or  the  Japanese,  but  the  Hindoos.  We  are  not  say- 
ing it  is  difficult  to  convert  human  creatures,  but  difficult  to 
convert  human  creatures  with  such  institutions."  He  regarded 
the  institution  of  caste  as  an  impregnable  bulwark  of  the  powers 
of  evil  against  the  advance  of  Christianity.  It  was  the  backbone 
of  the  social,  the  political,  and  the  religious  life  of  the  race.  If 
Sydney  Smith  had  lived  in  this  generation,  he  would  have  recog- 
nized in  the  vast  Empire  of  India  that  things  which  are  impos- 
sible with  man  alone  are  not  only  possible,  but  inevitable  with 
God  and  man  united;  human  nature  and  God  in  contact  in  the 
revelation  and  the  power  of  the  Gospel. 


BISHOP  OF  SOUTHERN  VIRGINIA.  01 

Since  his  day  the  monster  institution  of  caste  has  been  slowly 
receding  and  disintegrating  at  the  foundations,  in  the  new  at- 
mosphere and  light  "of  Christianity.  Caste  is  undoubtedly  the 
most  powerful  barrier  ever  encountered  by  Christian  civiliza- 
tion, because  it  is  more  compact  in  an  organization  permeating 
■every  occupation,  every  profession,  and  every  institution  of 
life;  but  still  it  has  been  powerless,  and  will  be  powerless,  to 
intimidate  the  inroads  and  the  assimilating  forces  of  Christianity. 

The  disposition  and  the  race  characteristics  of  the  Japanese 
present  obstacles  to  Christianity  depressing  to  the  missionary. 
The  Japanese  is  brilliant,  but  fickle.  He  is  the  specimen  in  the 
modern  pagan  world  of  the  religious  skeptic.  He  is  like  the 
Greek,  ever  ready  for  the  new  and  equally  ready  to  let  go  the 
old.  He  is  inconstant,  unsteady.  But  underneath  he  has  the 
same  human  nature,  facing  the  same  tremendous  problems  which 
■Christianity  alone  can  solve,  and  was  meant  to  solve.  The  Gala- 
tians  were  fickle,  but  the  love  and  the  wonder  of  the  Gospel 
steadied  and  anchored  them.  And  so  the  Greek,  with  his  sensual 
emotionalism  and  his  aesthetic  intellectualism  and  his  gay  world- 
liness,  was  lifted  by  the  Gospel  to  lay  hold  upon  truth  that  im- 
parted character,  that  educated  him  out  of  his  instability,  and  ap- 
propriated his  intellectual  agility  and  culture  and  his  wonderful 
language  to  be  its  vehicle  for  transmission  to  the  world. 

The  experience  of  the  Christian  Church  has  verified  the  faith 
underlying  all  missionary  effort,  that  with  a  fair  and  solid  con- 
tact with  the  principles  and  the  needs  of  human  nature,  Chris- 
tianity is  bound  to  demolish  paganism  in  all  of  its  forms  and  to 
transcend  all  obstacles  presented  in  the  variations  of  condition 
and  character  among  the  races  of  mankind. 

In  speaking  of  obstacles  presenting  trials  to  faith  in  the  work 
of  our  own  Church  and  of  other  organized  Christian  bodies, 
larger  and  superior  in  missionary  resources  to  our  own,  among  the 
Negro  population  of  the  country,  of  the  South  and  the  North, 
there  are  some  the  mention  of  which  might  alienate  the  sympa- 
thies of  those  whose  opinions  have  been  formed  upon  abstract 
principles,  and  who  have  been  without  the  opportunity  of  testing 
them  by  observation  and  experience.  Ethnology  and  race  condi- 
tions are  purely  scientific  studies,  and  the  study  of  all  sciences  is 
a  process  of  induction  from  the  observation  of  facts.  The  need 
of  the  Negro,  as  a  foundation  upon  which  to  build  education, 
the  character  for  citizenship  and  stability  in  religion,  which  con- 
ditions even-thing  else,  is  family  life,  family  law,  family  religion, 
family  fidelity.  The  family  is,  "in  the  ultimate  analysis,  the  unit 
•of  society.  The  family  trust,  the  family  authority,  the  family  re- 
ligion, these  are  the  beginnings,  the  springs,  the  unseen  founda- 
tions. There  is  no  trust  that  human  beings  put  in  one  another 
like  the  trust  between  husband  and  wife,  between  parent  and 
child.  From  the  family  this  trust  goes  forth  to  the  aggrega- 
tion of  families  and  forms  the  atmosphere  of  the  moral  life  of 


g2  EVANGELIZING  DEPENDENT  RACES  IN  AMERICA. 

the  commimity.  It  enters  into  all  the  relations  and  interchanges 
of  life,  imparting  social  stability  and  coherence.  Without  trust 
in  the  'family  you  will  have  it  nowhere  else.  Your  business  rests- 
upon  trust r  Vour  politics  rest  upon  trust.  A  distinguished 
English  philosopher,  writing  upon  social  and  national  life,  says- 
oi  the  family:  "  The  blessing  and  the  curse  of  it  penetrate  every 
corner  of  tlie  most  artificial  society.  Look  at  the  :\rarriage  a  la 
mode  of  Hogarth.  Meditate  on  the  ghastly  breakfast  table  which 
is  the  preparation  for  all  the  tragedy  that  follows.  The  great 
painter  of  English  social  morality  tells  you  there  of  the  history 
of  commercial  failures,  of  political  distrust,  of  sensual  wreck,  of 
domestic  degradation."  The  idea  he  embodies  in  the  great  pic- 
ture is  that  they  all  go  back  to  the  desecration  of  the  conjugal  re- 
lation; for  that  is  a  relation,  and  a  relation  is  not  a  human  ar- 
rangement, a  device  which  man  has  adopted,  and  which  he  may 
change  or  adjust;  but  it  is  constitutional,  it  is  indigenous,  it  is  in 
the  roots  of  things,  a  condition  of  the  life  of  the  organism, 
whether  it  is  physical  or  spiritual.  Such  is  the  family.  Its  recog- 
nition as  such  IS  the  criterion  of  the  efficiency  and  the  achieve- 
ments of  anv  people.  Its  loss  or  its  dishonor  is  the  beginning  of 
the  death  of  races  and  nations  on  their  way  to  animalism  and  to 
extijiction. 

We  have  ten  millions  of  the  African  race  in  our  midst.  From' 
the  dawn  of  history  they  have  been  under  the  bondage  of  sla- 
very, whether  in  their  native  homes  or  scattered  over  the  earth. 
Here  they  are  gathered  with  no  choice  or  agency  of  ours,  or  their 
own.  The  great  problem  is  not  to  be  solved  by  peripatetic 
speakers  and  lecturers 'about  education.  Whatever  our  liberal 
people,  our  countrymen  of  the  northern  and  western  portions  of 
our  land  may  say  and  do,  the  burden  and  the  pressure  and  the 
solicitude  are  upon  the  South.  The  Southern  people  want  their 
help,  and  God  knows  they  need  it.  If,  perchance,  our  people  of 
the  North  and  West  should  speak  and  act  and  inflame  their 
minds  with  the  problem  upon  the  plane  of  ignorance  or  passion 
or  political  rivalry,  the  part  of  the  people  of  the  South  is  to  be 
patient  and  to  go  on  doing  their  duty  without  fear  in  the  sight 
of  God  and  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  died  for  these  people,, 
as  for  all  the  children  of  men.  All  of  our  fellow-countrymen  will 
know  the  problem  one  of  these  days;  perhaps  in  the  near  future, 
for  this  race  are  migratory  children,  and  they  w^ll  make  this 
whole  land  their  home;  and  then  this  great  branch  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  Christian  world  will  become  one  in  the  knowledge  of  the 
problem  and  one  in  sympathy  in  the  great  work  of  redeeming  and 
educating  this  people  to  be  in  the  long  future  the  civilizers  and 
the  evangelists  of  their  own  native  land,  shadowed  for  ages  in  the 
darkness  of  heathenism. 

More  than  any  other,  this  race  in  our  midst  needs  an  awakening- 
of  conscience,  a  quickening  of  long  ages  of  slumber  and  of  deadness 
in  family  life,  family  dignity,  and  family  fidelity.    There  are,  it  i& 


BISHOP  OF  SOUTHERN  VIRGINIA.  85 

true,  thousands  of  them  who  have  imbibed  the  Christian  idea  of 
the  family  from  the  home  of  the  master  and  mistress  under  the 
old  pupilage  of  slavery,  and  who  have  learned  the  profound  im- 
port of  puritv  in  family  life  since  their  emancipation  from  legal 
bondage.  But  what  are  these  thousands  to  the  millions  who  are 
without  fathers  and  mothers,  without  sons  and  daughters,  without 
trust  and  love  in  the  home,  as  God  meant  it  to  be!  Writers  among 
the  educated  Xegroes,  with  one  noble  exception,  have  obscured 
this  condition,  or  rather  have  allowed  hysterical  yearnings  for 
what  is  called  "manhood"  to  blind  them  to  the  reality;  while 
the  magazine  writer  and  the  politician  of  the  white  race  have, 
for  the  most  part,  handled  the  whole  question  in  the  atmos- 
phere of  sentiment  divorced  from  reason,  and  theory  without 
foundation  upon  the  observation  of  facts.  The  impulse  to  save 
must  know  the  perils  of  the  objects  of  its  solicitude  and  com- 
passion, otherwise  it  spends  itself  in  vain. 

Another  obstacle  in  the  religious  and  moral  development  of 
the  Negro  is  his  contact  with  politics  under  a  system  of  govern- 
ment which  of  all  others,  though  the  simplest  and  the  purest, 
is  the  most  complicated  in  its  demands  upon  the  intelligence  and 
morality  of  the  individual,  and  the  most  open  to  abuse  and  cor- 
ruption" when  that  intelligence  and  morality  are  in  a  rudimentary 
state  of  development. 

Our  relations  to  these  ten  millions  of  an  alien  race  have  no 
guiding  precedent  in  history.  They  present  new  problems 
which  cannot  be  disposed  of  "by  repeating  over  and  over  again 
some  political  shibboleth,  like  ""liberty,  equality,  and  fraternity." 
Plato's  republic  was  a  sublime  ideal,  but  a  grotesque  impossibility 
in  a  world  like  this.  The  English  people  in  India  are  a  handful 
compared  to  the  millions  of  the  natives.  When  England  went 
to  India  the  tribes  were  engaged  in  wars  of  extermination,  and 
the  Hindoo  was  gravitating  toward  extinction.  England's  law, 
her  courts  of  Justice,  her  benign  reasonableness  and  her  firm  hand 
have  saved  a  great  people  perhaps  for  a  great  future  on  the  con- 
tinent of  Asia.  England  governs  and  the  Hindoo,  though  per- 
haps the  most  intelligent  of  the  nations  of  the  East,  knows  that 
it  is  best  for  him  that  she  should  govern.  He  feels  his  incapacity. 
He  wants  a  longer  time  to  learn.  Darwin,  in  his  "Descent  of 
Man,"  says  that  the  "  death  of  races  is  often  caused  by  the  at- 
tempts to  civilize  them."  They  absorb  the  vices  of  civilization, 
but  decline  its  burdens.  They  are  impulsive,  tentative,  impatient 
of  steady  aim  and  purpose  for  future  achievement.  The  Negro- 
does  not"  shrink  from  physical  toil,  and  in  this  respect  he  is  nearer 
to  the  type  of  progressive  civilization  than  the  Indian,  who  pre- 
fers hunting  to  plowing,  and  in  refusing  to  obey  the  law,  "In 
the  sweat  of  thy  brow  shalt  thou  eat  bread,"  he  refuses  civiliza- 
tion and  gravitates  to  beggary  and  want  and  extinction. _  The 
Negro  bears  physical  burdens  with  cheerfulness,  and  his  toil 
has  made  many  a  wilderness  all  over  our  land  to  blossom  as  the 


84  EVANGELIZING  DEPENDENT  RACES  IN  AMERICA. 

rose.  But  physical  toil  is  perhaps  the  least  of  the  burdens  of 
civilization.  It  is  always  cheerful.  It  has  in  it  an  element  of 
pleasure,  which  Divine  Providence  has  attached  to  it  as  one  of 
the  laws  of  its  activity.  "  The  husbandman  holdeth  the  plow 
and  giveth  his  mind  to  the  furrows.  The  carpenter  laboreth 
night  and  day,  and  is  diligent  to  make  great  variety.  The  smith 
sitteth  at  the  anvil  and  considereth  the  iron  work,  and  his  eyes 
look  still  upon  the  pattern  of  the  thing  that  he  maketh,  and  he 
setteth  his  mind  to  finish  it  and  to  polish  it  perfectly."  The  body 
workers  need  no  commiseration  from  the  brain  workers  of  the 
world.  But  still  the  Negro  is  an  illustration  of  Darwin's  law  of 
the  decay  of  the  weaker  races  in  the  attempt  to  civilize  them  pre- 
maturely. 

Take  the  suffrage,  the  most  responsible  gift  of  the  highest 
civilization.  The  Negro  looks  forward  to  it  as  the  advent  of  his 
temporal  salvation.  What  does  he  do  with  it.  How  does  he 
learn  to  regard  it  ?  In  time  he  learns  to  sell  it  for  a  few  cents,  or 
for  a  dollar,  or  for  perhaps  more.  I  do  not  refer  to  the  best 
specimens  of  religion  and  education,  who  are  few  compared  to 
the  great  masses.  These  last  have  their  consciences  progressively 
degraded  and  educated  downward  by  this  gift  of  civilization. 

The  Eoman  Church  carries  some  elements  of  Christianity  that 
exercise  saving  influences  upon  human  nature;  but  the  difficulty 
is  that  it  contains  practices  that  corrupt  the  weak  and  the  ig- 
norant, and  they  are  the  many.  It  educates  the  conscience  down- 
ward. It  holds  up  the  Cross  to  sinners,  and  sin  that  must  be 
saved  only  by  the  Cross  of  the  Son  of  God  must  be  a  tremen- 
dous reality.  But  yet  in  practice  it  makes  little  of  sin,  by  as- 
signing little  tasks,  as  bead-counting  and  Pater  Nosters,  for  its 
remission.  The  weaker  souls  among  its  votaries  are  learning  the 
logic  of  estimating  the  weight  of  sin  by  the  price  paid  for  it  in 
little  penances  and  not  in  the  great  redemption.  So,  in  the 
mind  where  ethics  is  divorced  from  political  duty  and  conscience 
is  for  sale,  you  recognize  the  germ  of  fatal  corruption  in  popular 
government. 

You  may  reply  that  the  Negro's  conscience  has  been  depraved 
instead  of  educated  by  the  exercise  of  suffrage,  by  reason  of  the 
example  and  agency  of  the  white  man.  But  that  only  confirms 
Mr.  Darwin's  theory  of  the  tendency  of  the  weak  to  assimilate 
only  the  vices,  in  contact  with  a  civilization  that  is  above  them. 
There  exists  in  the  highest  civilizations  of  the  Christian  nations  an 
element  that  represents  the  disintegrating  forces  of  vice;  but  there 
exists  also  a  public  sentiment  that  hedges  vice  around  and  circu- 
lates through  the  channels  of  government  to  carry  off  the  waste 
and  eliminate  the  poison.  But  in  the  weak  race  there  is  no  public 
sentiment,  but  only  widespread  ignorance  and  a  dead  or  dying 
conscience.  I  think  it  may  be  said  that,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
wisest  educators  of  the  Negroes,  belonging  themselves  to  the 
race,  that  the  restriction  in  the  Southern  States  in  the  exercise 


BISHOP  OF  SOUTHERN  VIRGINIA.  85 

of  the  right  of  suffrage  by  educational  and  property  qualifications 
has  removed  obstacles  to  their  spiritual,  moral,  and  intellectual 
development.  Indiscriminate  suffrage  has  separated  the  Xegro 
from  his  best  friends  and  planted  suspicion  in  his  mind  toward 
the  whites  of  the  North  and  the  South,  besides  depraving  his  own 
conscience  and  the  political  conscience  of  the  whole  country.  I 
am  sure  its  restriction  has  helped  to  remove  obstacles  to  his  con- 
version to  Christianity  in  the  Church  of  which  we  are  the  repre- 
sentatives. 

In  relation  to  the  secular  education  of  the  Negro  race,  it  is 
enough  for  me  to  say  that  the  generous  and  systematic  contribu- 
tions from  the  Northern  States  to  our  Church  schools  and  the 
millions  collected  by  the  tax-gatherer  from  the  whites  of  the 
Southern  States  are  evidences  of  a  conscience  awakened  to  the 
duty  of  the  enlightenment  of  the  Negro  up  to  the  measure  of 
his  ability  and  the  interests  of  his  temporal  and  his  spiritual 
welfare.  "^With  reference  to  the  public  schools  for  the  Negroes, 
the  question  of  the  exclusion  of  religion  from  public  instruction 
is  one  of  far  greater  consequences  than  in  the  case  of  the  white 
schools.  Those  who  are  opposed  to  religious  teaching  in  the 
public  schools,  and,  indeed,  all  sensible  people  who  are  not  in- 
fidels, agree  that  school  instruction  would  be  better  with  the  ele- 
ments of  religious  instruction  than  without  it.  But  those  who 
oppose  the  introduction  of  religion  into  public  instruction  do  so 
"upon  the  ground  that  government  is  not  the  proper  agent  for  the 
dissemination  of  religion.  The  Government  is  the  political  rep- 
resentative of  many  creeds,  many  Churches,  many  variations  of 
religious  belief.  It  represents  a  divided  nation,  so  far  as  religion 
is  concerned,  and  therefore  it  must  be  neutral.  It  could  not 
adopt  the  Creed  of  any  one  without  the  alienation  of  all  the  rest. 
And  that  seems  to  be"  plausible  to  the  popular  mind,  though  the 
Bible  and  the  foundation  principles  of  Christian  morality  and 
the  great  Creeds  of  Christendom  belong  to  all  forms  of  Chris- 
tianity. But,  accepting  the  fact  as  it  stands,  it  amounts  prac- 
tically to  the  exclusion  of  the  Negro  child  from  all  religious 
instruction.  He  has  no  religious  home,  and  for  the  great  masses 
he  is  without  a  Church.  Therefore,  if  he  is  to  learn  at  all, 
he  is  dependent  upon  parish  schools.  The  rational  policy,  then, 
of  all  missionary  work  of  the  Church  among  Negroes  is  the 
recognition  of  the  parish  school  as  the  fundamental  agency  and 
necessity.  And,  again,  it  is  worthy  of  effort,  with  conference 
with  Protestant  bodies  around  us,  to  bring  to  bear  influences 
upon  the  governments  of  States  to  open  schools  with  such  forms 
of  religious  service  as  harmony  among  all  Christians  may  devise. 
Childhood  never  forgets  creeds  and  prayers.  With  the  vast 
masses  of  Negro  children  it  is  their  only  chance  to  learn.  What 
a  pity  for  a  Christian  people  to  suffer  little  pagans  to  pass  all  the 
educational  opportunities  of  childhood  without  the  Bible,  the 
hymns,  the  blessed  old  Creeds. 


86  EVANGELIZING  DEPENDENT  RACES  IN  AMERICA. 

Eef erring  to  our  discussion  of' the  family  as  the  first  and  there- 
fore the  highest  school  for  the  education  of  childhood  in  obedi- 
ence, and  in  the  elements  of  morality,  we  are  reminded  of  the 
material  conditions  which  obtain  in  the  great  masses  of  the 
Negro  population.  Their  homes  and  home  training  are  in  the 
country.  The  young  men  and  women  in  large  numbers  gravitate 
to  the  "cities  in  search  of  employment;  but  families  are  reared  in 
the  country.  A  cabin  with  two  or  three,  but  most  frequently 
with  only  one  room,  is  the  home  of  the  Negro.  Men  and  women. 
boys  and  girls,  live  for  the  the  most  part  in  these  narrow  condi- 
tions. The  factory  laws  in  a  majority  of  the  States  prohibit  the 
employment  of  children  under  twelve  years  in  the  cotton  facto- 
ries. It  was  only  after  a  long  struggle  in  England,  a  hundred  years 
ago,  that  Peel  and  his  party  convinced  Parliament  and  the  Eng- 
lish nation  that  they  could  not  rely  upon  fathers  and  mothers  to 
protect  their  own  children  from  the  disease  and  blight  of  factory 
work.  The  cupidity  of  parents  forced  the  little  children  into  the 
poisonous  air  and  grinding  toil  of  the  factories;  and  the  English 
race,  in  the  factor}^  districts,  as  years  passed,  began  to  manifest 
alarming  signs  of  physical  degeneracy.  The  laws  intervened  to 
save  the  children.  Would  legislation  be  possible  or  practicable  to 
save  the  children  of  our  poor,  ignorant  Negro  race  from  cor- 
ruption and  moral  degeneracy,  in  the  springs  of  their  life,  in 
being  reared  in  such  conditions  in  the  homes  referred  to?  The 
question  is  too  wide  for  the  limits  of  this  paper,  and  perhaps  I 
have  already  transcended  the  time  allotted. 

There  are  some  who  believe  such  legislation  to  be  practicable, 
and,  if  so,  there  are  those  who  will  not  rest  until  they  bring 
public  opinion,  crystallized  into  law,  to  bear  upon  the  moral  re- 
generation pi  the  Negro  race.  But  short  of  law,  Christianity  and 
the  Church,  the  most  powerful  agencies  for  awakening  and  edu- 
cating the  conscieaice,  may  accomplish  a  regeneration  of  morals 
and  of  character,  in  the  foundation  relations  of  life,  among  a  race, 
kind  and  impressible  and  capable  of  the  noblest  fidelity;  capable 
also  of  being  touched  and  lifted,  as  all  of  God's  children,  by  the 
love  of  Christ  and  human  effort  and  sacrifice  for  the  wandering 
and  the  lost. 

We  have  seen  that  the  spirit  and  faith  of  prophecy  are 
identical  with  the  missionary  spirit  and  faith  of  Christianity. 
They  believe  in  final  results  from  causes  requiring  time  to 
work,  and  therefore  certain  and  inevitable  in  accomplishment. 
They  believe  in  God's  purpose  and  in  human  nature  respond- 
ing to  that  purpose,  and  for  its  accomplishment  they  believe 
in  time;  they  have  faith  in  time.  Time,  with  somej  is  only 
a  philosophical  abstraction,  and  the  belief  in  it  has  no  quality 
or  power  of  living  faith.  There  are  many  minds  that  have 
no  real  belief  in  time.  They  believe  in  the  present;  they  be- 
lieve in  to-day;  they  are  in  a  hurry  about  all  enterprises.  If  re- 
sults are  not  immediate  they  abandon  the  foundation  they  have 


BISHOP  OF  HONDURAS.  87 

laid.  They  have  no  belief  in  seed-planting  which  requires  a  far- 
off  harvest.  The  difference  between  a  mere  politician  and  a 
statesman  is  that  one  works  for  and  believes  in  immediate  re- 
sults to  be  accomplished  in  the  present  exigency  and  Justifies  a 
compromise  of  principle  to  achieve  that  result.  The  statesman 
believes  in  principles  and  is  patient  and  confident  of  their  final 
victory.  So  Christianity  believes  in  time.  Christian  faith  and 
Christian  imagination  see  in  time  great  spaces,  stretches  of 
years,  ages,  wherein  seeds  are  to  grow.  Faith  in  time  is  surely  a 
tremendous  reality.  We  plant  an  acorn  in  our  boyhood  and  the 
currents  of  life  drift  us  away  for  sixty  years.  We  visit  the  scene 
of  our  childhood,  and  find  the  tree  with  its  branches  toward  the 
sky  and  its  leaves  a  shelter  from  the  heat.  What  a  change! 
Think  of  the  helpless,  cowed,  and  shivering  natives  of  Africa 
landed  upon  the  shores  of  New  England  and  Virginia  in  the  early 
days  of  our  Colonial  history — look  at  their  children  to-day. 
Wiiat  a  change!  Christianity  believes  in  planting  seeds,  and 
watering  and  praying  and  waiting,  in  the  faith  that  the  seeds 
will  grow.  Faith  in  God,  faith  in  human  nature  as  He  made  it, 
and  faith  in  time  as  illustrated  in  ever}'  field  of  human  experience, 
justify  the  calm  expectation  and  sure  hope  of  the  final  and  the 
universal  prevalence  of  Christianity  among  all  the  races  of 
mankind. 


THURSDAY  AFTERNOON^. 

Sixth   Topic. 

METHODS    OF   THE   CHURCH'S  WORK  IN  EVANGELIZ- 
ING  THE   SPECIALLY   DEPENDENT   RACES 
IN  AMERICA. 

(a)   THE -NEGRO  RACE. 

Second  Paper. 

The  Right  Rev.  G.  Albert  Ormsby,  D.D., 

BISHOP  OF  HONDURAS. 

We  are  invited  to  consider  to-day  some  of  the  methods  em- 
ployed by  the  Church  of  God  in  seeking  to  evangelize  the  Negro 
race. 

The  duty  of  the  Christian  Church  to  try  to  evangelize  all  the 
races  of  the  world  is  clear,  it  rests  on  the  solemn  charge  of  Christ, 
*'  Go  ye  into  the  world  and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature." 
The  fearless  discharge  of  this  duty  "  without  respect  of  persons  " 
shall  reap  its  rich  reward  when  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  shall 
have  become  the  kingdoms  of  Our  Lord  and  his  Christ,  when 
there  shall  be  gathered  round  his  throne  that  '*'  great  multitude 


88  EVANGELIZING  DEPENDENT  RACES  IN  AMERICA. 

which  no  man  can  numher  of  all  nations,  kindreds,  people,  and 
tongues."  We  therefore  can  rejoice  to-day  that  amidst  all  the 
difficult  problems  that  surround  the  past  history,  the  present 
position,  and  the  future  prospects  of  the  Negro  race,  amidst  all 
the  storms  and  conflicting  currents  of  public  opinion  on  the  po- 
litical and  social  aspect  o'f  questions  relating  to  those  people,  we 
are  in  smooth  waters  when  we  try  "  to  win  them  to  Thrist."  Let 
us  remember  that  we  are  not  asked  to  solve  political  or  social 
problems,  but  we  are  solemnly  commanded  to  perform  our  spir- 
itual duty,  and  let  us  reverently  pray  that  every  ripple  on  the 
surface  of  the  stream  of  this  our  duty  may  forever  pass  away — 
and  that  "the  Spirit  of  the  Living  God  may  brood  on  the  face 
of  the  waters." 

As  the  question  of  our  duty  is  most  thankfully  recognized,  we 
are  only  asked  to-day  to  consider  the  best  methods  to  be  adopted 
in  order  to  carry  out  our  object  in  view. 

1.  First,  then,  I  apprehend  we  must  clearly  agree  as  to  what  we 
mean  by  evangelizing  the  Negro  race.  What  is  our  definite  ob- 
ject? 

2.  Secondly,  we  must  agree  on  certain  fixed  principles. 

3.  Among  all  the  agencies  we  may  suggest  when  we  come  to  the 
discussion  of  the  methods  to  be  used,  we  must  agree  that  one 
agency  is  indispensable — no  matter  what  other  agencies  may  be 
employed. 

4.  And  then,  when  we  have  agreed  on  these  points,  I  may  sug- 
gest some  methods  that,  with  others  more  valuable,  suggested 
by  my  Eight  Eeverend  Brethren,  may  form  the  basis  for  a 
profitable  discussion  this  afternoon. 

I.  First,  then,  what  do  we  mean  by  the  expression  "  evangelize 
the  Negro  race?  " 

Surely  it  is  something  much  more  than  simply  to  proclaim  the 
evangel  of  God.  I  am  quite  aware  that  some  of  our  most  spirit- 
ually-minded brethren  may  say  "  Preach  the  word  and  leave  the 
results  to  God."  We  thankfully  recognize  that  in  one  point  of 
view,  "  The  word  of  God  is  quick  and  powerful,"  and  that  we 
have  nothing  to  do  with  results — ^but  in  order  to  do  any  real 
work  we  must  have  our  object  in  view  clearly  defined,  and  that 
object  I  take  to  be  "  the  formation  of  character  " — by  character 
I  mean  the  expression  and  the  fruit  of  our  apprehension  of 
God's  love  to  us  in  Christ,  and  the  reflection  of  that  love  in  the 
government  of  self  and  in  our  conduct  towards  our  fellow  men. 

Professor  Peabody  of  Harvard  University,  in  his  very  able  book 
entitled  "  An  Examination  of  the  Teachings  of  Jesus  in  Eelation 
to  Some  of  the  Problems  of  Modern  Life,"  regards  with  much 
hopefulness  the  present  tendency  to  turn  to  the  task  of  inter- 
preting and  perpetuating  the  teaching  of  Jesus.  The  modem 
spirit  inquires  "What  would  Jesus  say?"  In  considering  the 
difficult  questions  that  surround  the  expression  "  Kingdom  of 
God,"  he  comes  to  this  conclusion,  "  that  whatever  the  phrase  may 


BISHOP  OF  HONDURAS.  89 

mean,  or  whatever  may  be  included  within  its  meaning,  it  im- 
plies a  condition  in  which  character  rules  supreme." 

Our  definite  object  in  view  is  so  to  bring  men  and  women  into 
personal  contact  with  the  Living  Christ  that  at  last  they  may  in 
some  measure  reflect  His  character.  He  must  come  into  his 
garden  and  weed  out  all  that  offends.  He  must  use  the  knife 
unsparingly  that  the  fruitful  branch  may  become  more  fruitful 
still.  He  must  come  into  His  Temple,  once  the  "  palace  of 
Satan,"  now  the  "  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  and  cleanse  it 
through  and  through,  and  again  and  again.  He  must  come  into 
His  barn  and  with  His  winnowing-fan  must  thoroughly  purge 
His  floor.  He  must  sit  as  a  refiner  and  purifier  of  silver,  and 
must  never  be  content  till  He  sees  in  the  purified  metal  His 
own  kind  face  reflected  as  in  a  sea  of  glass. 

II.  Secondly,  we  must  agree  on  certain  fixed  principles  as  we 
approach  the  subject  of  methods  to  be  employed.  As  the  Negro 
races  whom  we  seek  to  evangelize,  though  one  in  blood,  are  very 
different  in  temperament  and  disposition  in  different  countries^ 
so  we  must  recognize  the  principle  (a)  of  adaptability  and  great 
flexibility  in  the  methods  we  think  best  to  employ. 

The  Negroes  of  North  America  differ  from  those  of  the 
South,  and  the  Negroes  of  the  Mainland  of  Central  America 
differ  from  those  of  Jamaica,  Barbadoes,  and  the  other  West 
Indian  islands.  The  methods  of  the  Church  in  dealing  with  them 
must  therefore  vary  with  the  environment,  capabilities,  dispo- 
sitions, and  previous  opportunities  of  the  particular  sections  of 
the  race  we  are  seeking  to  influence — we  must  also  take  into  ac- 
count the  climatic  influence  of  the  countries  in  which  we  are 
called  to  labor.  x\gain  we  must  not  only  recognize  the  principle 
of  adaptability  in  the  methods  we  propose  to  employ,  but  we  must 
never  forget  another  most  important  principle — (b)  namely, 
that  as  our  aim  is  spiritual,  so  everything  calculated  to  empha- 
size race  prejudice  must  be  avoided,  and  the  political  element 
must  never  mingle  with,  nor  in  one  iota  interfere  with  our  deeply 
spiritual  work;  here,  as  ever,  we  must  be  very  faithful  to  God, 
to  our  own  conscience,  and  to  our  brother.  The  Gospel's  evan- 
gelical message  of  "  Him  who  is  no  respecter  of  persons,"  when 
driven  home  to  our  hearts  and  indelibly  written  on  our  minds  by 
the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  must  influence  our  conduct,  and 
make  us,  w^hatever  our  race  or  nationality  may  be,  better  citizens, 
kinder  brethren,  and  more  fitted  to  fill  the  place  that  has  been 
appointed  for  us  in  the  wonderful  plan  of  the  great  Architect  of 
the  world. 

III.  Again,  among  the  many  agencies  we  may  suggest,  we  must 
agree  (in  the  presence  of  God)  on  the  indispensability  of  one 
agency  as  supreme — some  may  be  lawful,  others  may  be  expe- 
dient, but  the  agency  I  am  about  to  speak  of  is  absolutely  indis- 
pensable. I  mean  of  course  the  preventing,  co-operating,  and  seal- 
ing power  of  God  the  Holy  Ghost.    This  must  be  especially  empha- 


<)0  EVANGELIZING  DEPENDENT  RACKS  IN  AMERICA. 

sized  in  such  days  as  these.  All  who  look  around  them  and  try  to 
read  the  signs  of  the  times  must  be  persuaded  that  we  are  living  in 
the  last  days.  The  Holy  Ghost  has  wrought  more  wonders  in 
bringing  souls  into  the  Kingdom  of  God  in  the  last  one  hundred 
years  than  were  effected  in  the  first  four  centuries  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church.  In  those  happy  days  there  was  the  personal  pres- 
ence of  Christ,  the  personal  teaching  of  the  Apostles,  the  great 
Pentecostal  blessing.  Yet,  owing  to  the  forward  movements  of 
to-day  all  along  the  line,  the  Holy  Spirit  in  answer  to  prayer  is 
more  largelv  than  ever  being  poured  out  on  men.  The  actual 
number  of  adherents  to  Christianity  is  being  more  largely  in- 
creased. The  argument  from  statistics  is  nothing  to  be  compared 
to  argument  to  be  derived  from  the  silent  influences  of  "  the  old, 
old  story,"  told  and  retold  in  the  world.  In  India,  China,  Corea, 
-and  Japan,  and  among  parent  races  of  Negroes  in  Africa,  the 
influence  of  Christianity  is  undermining  the  strongholds  of 
heathendom. 

This  is  pre-eminently  the  age  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  we  all  have 
heard,  and  some  of  us  are  members  of  the  great  League  of  Prayer 
that  has  been  formed  for  the  special  object  of  sending  up  one 
united  prayer  from  every  part  of  the  world  for  a  special  outpour- 
ing of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  League  representatives  in  almost 
every  land,  we  take  as  our  watchword  the  promise  "  I  will  pour 
out  my  spirit  upon  all  flesh."  This  spiritual  work  we  are  now 
considering  must  be  done  by  spiritual  agencies:  "not  by  might, 
nor  by  power,  but  by  my  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord." 

Let  us,  then,  earnestly  pray,  as  we  consider  the  methods  to  be 
employed,  "Oh,  God,  who  didst  teach  the  hearts  of  thy  faithful 
people  by  the  sending  to  them  the  light  of  thy  Holy  Spirit,  grant 
us  by  the  same  Spirit  to  have  a  right  judgment  in  all  things." 

IV.  We  now  approach  the  discussion  of  the  methods  that  may 
be  proposed.  Bearing  in  mind  the  principles  I  have  laid  down, 
that  our  own  methods  must  be  flexible  and  capable  of  adaptation, 
and  in  their  development  anything  tending  to  emphasize  un- 
happy race  prejudices  or  political  opinions  is  to  be  avoided,  it 
seems  to  me  that  our  methods  may  be  considered  as : 

1.  Parochial.     2.  Special.     3.  Individual. 

1.  In  a  settled  community  nothing  can  be  compared  with  our 
ordinary  parochial  system  when  interjjreted  on  the  principles  I 
have  already  indicated.  Among  a  very  emotional  people,  while 
the  love  of  God  is  plainly  taught,  and  the  far-reaching  benefits 
of  the  atonement  wrought  by  Christ  are  clearly  explained,  the 
practical  side  of  religion  should  have  marked  prominence.  Dis- 
cipline should  be  very  firmly  and  yet  kindly  enforced,  and  the 
integrity  of  the  teachers  and  the  examples  of  their  lives  should 
he  ever  considered  as  a  most  important  factor  in  our  work.  We 
should  steadily  keep  our  object  in  view,  namely,  the  formation  of 
the  Christlike  character  in  the  lives  of  those  among  whom  it 
may  be  our  privilege  to  labor.     I  much  prefer  myself  steady. 


BISHOP  OF  HONDURAS.  91 

<}uiet,  and  persevering  work,  and  house  to  house  visitations,  to 
sensational  movements,  or  emotional  revival  services.  Let  there 
he  more  prayer,  more  unity,  more  dependence  on  the  power  of 
<:;od,  more  clear  and  plaiii  and  direct  preaching,  more  calling 
sins  by  their  right  names,  more  exercising  the  Church's  disci- 
pline with  no  respect  of  persons.  Let  those  in  high  places  he 
reprimanded  as  well  as  those  in  more  humble  spheres.  If  the 
tide  of  spiritual  life  is  low  in  an  organized  community,  let  this 
be  a  call  for  prayer  and  the  earnest  examination  of  the  methods 
actually  in  use.  The  weapons  of  our  warfare  are  not  carnal.  All 
our  methods  must  be  spiritual,  that  is,  they  must  be  such  as  we 
honestly  believe  St.  Paul  would  have  used  and  our  Lord  Himself 
would  sanction.  I  may  add  that  I  most  thankfully  include  under 
the  heading  of  parochial  organizations  the  methods  adopted  with 
so  much  success  bv  the  Brotherhood  of  St.  Andrew  and  the 
Church  Army.  I  would  also  most  warmly  welcome  any  well-con- 
sidered system  by  which  the  people  can  be  elevated  and  taught 
by  means  of  agricultural  and  technical  schools. 

2.  In  addition  to  methods  that  may  be  called  parochial  are 
those  which  are  of  an  exceptional  and  special  character.  In 
virgin  soil  where  there  may  not  be  as  yet  any  settled  ministers, 
the  itinerating  evangelist  must  be  employed.  It  is  not  necessary 
that  he  should  be  a  university  man.  but  he  should  be  fully 
equipped  for  his  work,  and  must,  of  course,  hold  a  license  from 
the  Bishop  of  his  Diocese  and  be  under  the  supervision  of  the 
clergyman  of  the  nearest  settled  parish.  A  well-informed,  spirit- 
ually^ minded  man  of  their  own  nationality  will  often  be  found 
to  be  the  best  itinerating  missionary  in  scattering  and  remote  dis- 
tricts. Here  again  let  us  ever  remember  that  the  example  of  the 
teacher  is  the  object  lesson  of  the  taught. 

3.  Again,  methods  must  be  devised  whereby  there  may  be 
more  personal  and  individual  dealing  with  men  and  women,  one 
by  one.  Opportunities  should  be  given  for  those  in  temptation, 
or  in  sin,  to  open  their  minds  to  their  spiritual  guides.  I  am  not 
advocating  sacramental  confession,  but  I  do  think  there  should  be 
much  more  spiritual  contact  between  the  clergy  and  the  people 
than  there  is — an  unburdening  of  the  conscience  means  very 
much.  How  can  counsel  be  given  unless  we  know  the  special  need? 
In  special  cases  the  advice  of  the  Church  of  England  is  good. 
^•'  Let  him  come  to  me  or  to  some  other  learned  and  godly  min- 
ister of  Grod,"  not  to  receive  absolution  as  from  him,  but  to  re- 
ceive counsel,  direction,  and  advice.  In  dealing  with  individuals 
of  this  race  he  must  be  taught  the  supreme  importance  of  the 
government  of  self  by  the  aid  of  the  grace  of  God.  In  self-con- 
<]uest  all  other  spiritual  conquest  is  involved.  Well  did  Lord  Ten- 
nyson say: 

"  Self-reveronce.  self-knowledge,  self -control; 
These  three  alone  lead  men  to  sovereign  power." 


92  EVANGELIZING  DEPENDENT  RACES  IN  AMERICA. 

In  the  window  of  a  room  in  Queen's  College,  Oxford,  is  an  in- 
scription recording  that  the  room  was  once  used  by  our  young 
hero  Prince  Henry  V.,  who  is  finely  described  by  the  words  Victor 
hostium  et  sui.  "  Conqueror  not  only  of  his  enemies,  but  of 
himself." 

In  a  word,  let  us  see  that  all  our  methods,  whatever  they  may 
be.  tend  to  the  formation  of  the  Christlike  character  by  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  If,  my  Eight  Eeverend  Brethren,  we 
could  put  all  our  diocesan,  all  our  parochial,  all  our  various 
methods  into  the  keeping  of  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  and  let  Him 
work,  mighty  work  would  be  indeed  accomplished.  Sometimes, 
when  we  look  around  us.  we  are  inclined  to  ask  in  despair  "  can 
these  dry  bones  live?  "  Oh,  let.  us,  then,  listen  for  the  answer — 
"  With  God,  all  things  are  possible."  Let  us  do  our  part,  teach 
the  people  and  pray  earnestly  to  God,  "  Come  from  the  four 
Winds,  oh.  Breath,  and  breathe  upon  these  slain,  and  they  shall 
Hve." 

Our  methods  can  do  much :  "bone  can  come  to  its  bone," 
sinews  will  bind  them  together,  flesh  and  the  beautiful  form  of  a 
perfect  humanity  may  cover  them  above,  but  we  can  do  no  more. 
"  Paul  may  plant  and  Apollos  may  water,  but  God  alone  can  give 
the  increase.''  But  of  this  we  may  rest  assured  that  if  we 
honestly,  humbly,  and  in  dependence  on  God  do  our  part  He  will 
do  His,  and  in  His  own  good  time  we  shall  hear  the  rushing  of  a 
mighty  wind,  the  spirit  of  the  living  God  will  fill  the  valley,  and 
the  spiritually  dead,  whom,  by  our  methods,  we  are  tr\'ing  to 
awaken  shall  arise  to  a  new  and  better  life  and  "  shall  stand  on 
their  feet  a  great  army." 

We  look  foi-ward  to  the  time  when  our  methods  for  the  evan- 
gelization of  the  jSTegro  race  will  be  crowned  with  such  glorious 
success  that  those  whom  we  have  evangelized  in  the  land  of 
their  adoption  shall  in  numbers  return  to  their  fatherland,  and 
bring  to  the  parent  race  the  message  of  the  Gospel  they  have 
learned  from  us.  An  old  tradition  tells  us  that  one  of  the  Magi 
who  worshiped  before  the  Infant  Jesus  was  representative  of 
this  race  from  Africa.  The  prophecy  was  then  fulfilled,  "The 
Kings  of  Tarshish  and  of  the  Isles  shall  bring  presents.  The 
Kings  of  Sheba  and  of  Seba  shall  offer  gifts."  So,  by  these  hal- 
lowed means,  the  children  ministering  to  the  parents,  the  further 
prophecy  shall  also  be  fulfilled,  "  Thy  sons  shall  come  from 
far,  and  thy  daughters  shall  be  nursed  "by  thy  side.  The  multi- 
tudes of  camels  shall  cover  thee.  The  dromedaries  of  Media  and 
Epha,  all  they  from  Sheba  shall  come,  they  shall  bring  gold  and 
incense,  and  they  shall  show  forth  the  praises  of  the  Lord."  The 
stream  of  life  shall  flow  back  from  America  to  Africa.  "The 
brook  shall  become  a  river,  and  the  river  shall  become  a  sea." 


BISHOP  OF  NORTH  DAKOTA.  93 

FEIDAY  MOENING. 

Sixth  Topic. 

METHODS   OF  THE   CHUECH'S   WOEK  IN  EVANGELIZ- 
ING  THE   SPECIALLY  DEPENDENT   EACES 
IN  AMEEICA. 

(b)   THE  INDIAN  EACES. 

First  Paper. 

The  Right  Rev.  Cameron  Mann,  D.D., 

BISHOP  OF  NORTH  DAKOTA. 

The  circumstances  and  conditions  in  which  the  Indians  find 
themselves  in  Canada  and  in  the  United  States  are  very  different. 
There  less  than  100,000  Indians,  here  over  300,000;  there  a  com- 
paratively sparse  population  of  white  people,  here  70,000,000; 
there  an  emigration  toward  the  Indian  country,  which,  while 
large,  is  quite  controllable,  here  an  onrushing  multitude  of  land- 
seekers  which  is  practically  irresistible;  there  a  form  of  govern- 
ment which  recognizes,  perhaps  cultivates,  a  paternal  spirit  to- 
ward the  weak,  here  a  form  of  government  which  practically  says 
to  every  man,  "  Take  care  of  yourself."  It  is  well  that  we  are 
honored  by  the  presence  of  a  bishop  from  that  part  of  America, 
and  that  you  are  to  hear  the  views  of  so  competent  a  judge.* 
Our  sister  Church  on  the  north  of  us  has  done  heroic  and  effective 
work,  such  as  has  rarely  been  excelled. 

As  for  myself,  I  have  had  so  many  times  the  privilege  which 
I  now  enjoy — that  of  presenting  the  Indian  work,  in  one  or  other 
of  its  phases,  before  a  sympathetic  and  intelligent  audience — that 
I  fear  that  anything  I  may  now  say  will  seem,  to  some  at  least, 
a  thrice-told  tale.  And,  moreover,  so  easy  is  it  to  perceive  what 
ought  to  be  done  and  yet  not  to  follow  it,  to  know  the  right 
spirit  and  not  to  have  it,  that  I  should  not  be  at  all  surprised  if, 
even  should  I  succeed  in  pointing  out  right  methods  in  evangel- 
izing the  Indians,  I  should  only  expose  my  own  shortcomings  and 
provoke  the  criticism  that  I  describe  and  commend  just  what  I 
have  failed  to  be  and  to  do. 

"  Methods "  can  hardly  be  separated  from  the  inner  life  of 
which  they  are  the  movement,  nor  from  the  spirit  which  directs 
them,  and  I  must  be  pardoned,  therefore,  if  I  seem  to  run  back 
and  forth  from  methods  to  spirit  and  life,  and  from  spirit  and 
life  back  to  methods. 

It  will  be  seen  as  I  proceed  that  I  think  that  the  methods  of 
the  Church  in  evangelizing  the  Indians  need  to  be  in  some  ways 

*  The  Bishop  of  Calgary. 


94  EVANGELIZING  DEPENDENT  RACES  IN  AMERICA. 

peculiar.  I  shall  have  to  speak  of  the  wisdom  of  keeping  In- 
dians as  much  as  possible  by  themselves  while  they  are  still 
novices  in  Christian  thought  and  life:  of  bringing  religion  to  them 
in  their  own  language:  of  honoring  whatever  may  be  good  in  their 
old  modes  of  thought  and  action.  iVll  such  methods  may  be 
called  reservations;  but  in  my  opinion  all  "reservations"  in  be- 
half of  the  Indians  must  be  "considered  as  but  temporary  expedi- 
ents. Everything  should  be  looked  upon  as  provisional,  as  shifts, 
which,  if  permanently  maintained,  would  tend  to  make  Indian 
life  something  separate  from  the  common  life  of  our  country — a 
solid  foreign  mass — indigestible  by  our  common  civilization. 
Just  because  Indian  life  has  been  an  indigestible  mass,  has  our 
civilization  been  all  these  years  constantly  trying  to  vomit 
it  and  so  get  rid  of  the  cause  of  discomfort.  Ordinary 
laws  must  have  their  way.  All  reservations,  whether  the 
reserving  of  Indian  land  from  the  free  passage  to  and 
fro  of  the  people  generally  or  from  the  ordinary  laws  of 
settlement;  or  the  reserving  of  the  Indian  nationality  from 
absorption  into  ours;  or  the  reserving  of  old  tribal  supersti- 
tions and  notions  and  habits  from  the  natural  process  of  deca- 
dence; or  the  reserving  of  the  Indian  language  from  extinction — 
are  only  necessary  evils  or  but  temporary  expedients.  Safety  for 
300,000  Indians,  divided  up  into  several  hundred  tribes,  speaking 
almost  one  hundred  different  languages,  scattered  on  about  sev- 
enty different  reservations,  among  70.000,000  of  English-speak- 
ing people,  can  be  found  only  if  the  smaller  people  are  led  to 
flow  in  with  the  current  of  life  and  ways  of  the  larger.  The 
Indians  are  not  an  insulated  people  like  the  islanders  of  the 
South  Sea.  Our  proper  method  of  work  is  not  that  which  builds 
up  a  national  Indian  Church  with  a  national  liturgy  in  the  In- 
dian tongue,  but  rather  that  of  resolving  the  Indian  structure  and 
preparing  its  part  for  being  taken  up  into  the  great  whole  in 
Church  and  State.  However  much  therefore  the  missionary  may, 
for  the  time  being,  have  to  devote  himself  to  one  class,  namely, 
the  Indians,  he  should  struggle  against  falling  into  the  notion 
that  he  is  a  missionary  to  Indians  alone  and  not  a  missionary  to 
all  men,  and  his  aim  should  be  to  break  down  the  "  middle  wall 
of  partition  "  between  whites  and  Indians,  and  to  seek  not  the 
welfare  of  one  class  or  race,  but  the  common  good. 

As  a  further  preliminary  remark,  let  me  say  that  Indian  mis- 
sions call  for  the  hardest  kind  of  work  and  the  hardest  kind  of 
sense.  It  will  not  be  done  by  people  who  think  that  every  Indian 
girl  is  a  Pocahontas.  The  work  must  be  thoroughly  human  and 
sympathetic:  it  must  make  allowances;  it  must  be  appreciative  of 
any  good  in  the  Indians :  but  the  Indian  must  not  be  seen  as  in 
a  mirage — though  mirages  be  common  in  the  desert  which  he 
frequents — nor  uplifted  from  the  ordinary  run  of  things  and 
"  floating  vague  in  the  ether."  I  am,  perhaps,  not  as  confident  in 
my  opinions  regarding  the  Indians  as  I  was  as  a  novice  thirty 


BISHOP  OF  NORTH  DAKOTA.  95 

years  ago,  but  this  I  am  sure  of,  the  work  calls  for  hard  work  and 
hard  sense.  I  have  seen  nothing  to  lead  me  to  think  that  there  is 
anything  in  the  Indian  problem  to  drive  us  to  mere  sentimental- 
isiii,  to  quackery,  or  to  despair.  It  will  find  its  solution,  under  the 
favor  of  God,  iii  the  faithful  execution  of  the  powers  committed  by 
God  to  the  civil  government,  and  in  a  common-sense  ministration 
of  the  offices  and  the  gracious  gifts  deposited  vnth  His  Church. 

Next  I  should  say  the  methods  should  be  on  the  highest  plane 
of  Christian  endeavor.  The  work  lies  among  those  whose  con- 
fidence has  been  abused  and  perhaps  destroyed.  It  can  be  re- 
gained only  by  persons  of  high  sense  of  justice  and  sustained 
nobility  oi  feeling.  Moreover,  the  Indian  is  our  helpless  ward. 
Helplessness  calls  for  persons  of  strong  paternal  feeling — not  pa- 
ternal feeling  so-called,  which  makes  one  merely  fond  and  in- 
dulgent, but  the  paternal  feeling  which  makes  one  pitiful,  patient, 
wise,  and  strong.  I  read  some  time  ago  in  a  newspaper  the  fol- 
lowing words  called  forth  by  gross  abuses  in  the  treatment  of 
the  inmates  of  certain  State  poor-houses  and  hospitals.  "  The 
vast  majority  of  men  and  women  are  not  fit  to  exercise  authority 
over  other  beings  whose  condition  is  one  of  entire  dependence. 
There  are  some  noble  natures  in  whom  helplessness  will  only  breed 
respect,  consideration,  and  true  charity;  but  these  are  few  and  far 
between,  indeed,  and  it  is  not  disparaging  ordinary  human  nature 
in  the  least  to  say  that  their  price  is  above  rubies."  All  this  is 
emphatically  true  of  workers  among  our  native  races.  "  Men  who 
have  passed  all  their  lives  in  low  and  vulgar  life,"  even  though 
good,  are  rarely  suited  to  this  work.  They  are  apt  to  be  elated 
by  being  placed  in  authority  over  the  ignorant  and  helpless  and 
free  from  the  balances  and  checks  which  a  clergyman  finds  among 
white  people.  The  Maoris,  we  are  told,  quickly  noticed  the  dif- 
ference between  the  noble-minded  and  the  vulgar  missionaries 
who  came  among  them,  and  their  comment  was,  "  Gentlemen- 
gentlemen  don't  mind;  pig-gentlemen  mighty  particular." 

Next  the  methods  should  be  such  as  to  give  the  missionary 
strong  Church  backing.  It  being  presumed  that  the  missionary 
is  the  right  sort  of  man.  he  should  not  owe  his  place,  or  his  living, 
in  any  way  to  political  favor  or  to  local  government  officers,  nor 
be  dependent  on  them  in  any  way  except  so  fax  as  a  gentleman 
may  receive  courtesies  from  a  gentleman,  and  so  far  as  one  who 
is  in  close  touch  with  the  needy  may  look  with  manly  trust 
to  those  who  command  resources.  There  are  in  the  Indian 
country  representatives  of  the  government,  Indian  agents  and 
others,  whom  I  am  happy  to  call  my  friends,  and  in  whose 
family  life  I  have  found  many  a  time  sweet  solace.  The 
Indian  service  is  on  a  distinctly  higher  plane  than  it  was 
when  I  first  knew  it;  but  many  parts  of  the  Indian  country  are 
infested  with  persons  who  are  the  most  unscrupulous  schemers 
and  villainous  land-grabbers — even  government  officials  some- 
times  deserve  this  name.     Nothing  suits   the  purpose  of  such 


96  EVANGELIZING  DEPENDENT  RACES  IN  AMERICA. 

persons  better  than  to  have  the  representatives  of  religion  tied 

to  their  string.  _  •     -i      i.       ii 

Further:  the  methods  should  inspire  conhdence  m  the  beneh- 
cent  strength  of  the  Church.  The  Indian  has  had  experience  of 
strength — often  bitter  experience.  He  knows  well  the  strength 
of  the  white  man's  gun;  the  strength  of  his  well-built  houses, 
great  cities  of  them;  the  strength  of  his  enterprise  in  subduing 
the  wild  and  turning  over  in  a  few  weeks  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  acres  of  virgin  sod;  the  strength  of  his  railroads  running  over 
hill  and  dale  and  bridging  mighty  rivers.  There  has  been  handed 
down  among  them,  generation  after  generation,  the  story  of  the 
irresistible  progress  of  the  white  man.  "A  great  people,  and  a 
strong.  A  fire  devoureth  before  them;  and  behind  them  a  ilame 
burneth."  The  Indian  admires  strength,  while  in  this  case  he 
fears  it;  but,  alas!  while  so  many  other  things  of  the  white  man 
are  strong,  his  beneficent  effort  seems  to  the  Indian  transient 
and  weak.  A  mission  is  begun.  A  missionary  appears.  He  lacks 
good  sense.  The  local  enemies  of  religion  make  him  a  laughing- 
stock. He  has  not  succeeded  anywhere  else;  he  does  not  succeed 
here.  He  withdraws.  A  mission  building  was  erected.  Now  it 
stands  unoccupied.  This  is  a  staggering  blow,  and,  if  possible, 
should  never  be  permitted,  therefore  never  accept  any  man  except 
the  right  man.  But  when  the  right  man  has  taken  hold,  never 
let  him  go.  What  he  has  begun,  carry  on.  If  driven  away  by 
irresistible  forces,  let  him  bide  his  time  and  then  appear  again 
upon  the  scene. 

And  yet  again,  the  methods  used  should  be  those  which  tend 
to  keep  the  Indian  strong  if  he  has  any  strength,  and  make  him 
strong  if  he  lacks  it.  The  wild  Indian  has  a  certain  strength, 
strength  in  the  use  of  his  religious  nature,  strength  in  the  use  of 
his  physical  nature. 

As  to  the  physical  strength  of  the  Indian.  Who  could  cover 
long  distances  on  foot,  who  ride  a  horse,  who  drive  an  arrow 
through  the  buffalo,  who  make  wild  nature  serve  his  purposes 
better  than  he?  The  greatest  danger  to  this  strength  is  his  be- 
■  coming  a  loafer  and  a  pauper.  No  one  believes  that  a  loafer  and 
pauper  is  strong.  The  Indian  does  not  believe  it  himself.  He  is 
not  strong.  To  save  the  Indian's  strength,  the  mission  should 
take  a  distinct  stand  in  favor  of  productive  occupation — work  in 
farming,  in  raising  stock,  in  handicrafts,  and  in  other  pursuits 
which  strengthen  his  body  and  bring  in  returns.  Such  texts  as 
the  following  should  occupy  a  very  prominent  part  of  public  and 
private  exhortations :  "  Go  to  the  ant,  thou  sluggard;  consider  her 
ways,  and  be  ■wise;  which  having  no  guide,  overseer,  or  ruler, 
provideth  her  meat  in  the  summer  and  gathereth  her  food  in  the 
harvest."  And  "How  long  wilt  thou  sleep.  0  sluggard?  When 
wait  thou  rise  out  of  thy  sleep?  Yet  a  little  sleep,  a  little  slum- 
ber, a  little  folding  of  the  hands  to  sleep;  so  shall  thy  poverty 
come  as  one  that  traveleth,  and  thy  want  as  an  armed  man." 


BISHOP  OF  NORTH   DAKOTA.  97 

"  Even  when  we  were  with  you,  this  we  commanded  you,  that  if 
any  would  not  work,  neither  should  he  eat."  And  no  pains  should 
be  spared  to  bring  vividly  before  the  Indians,  on  the  one  hand,  the 
despicable  condition  into  which  many  of  them  are  sinking,  and 
on  the  other,  the  honorable  and  well-to-do  place  which  many- 
others  are  securing  by  patient  and  intelligent  effort.  No  native 
should  hold  a  position  on  the  mission  force  who  will  not  try  to 
make  himself  an  example  in  these  things. 

So  much  as  regards  the  physical  strength  of  the  Indian.  As  to 
his  old  religion,  it  was  a  great  fact  and  a  great  power  in  his 
life.  It  had  its  sacred  stories  which  fed  the  religious  instinct. 
The  changes  of  the  seasons  and  the  events  of  individual  and  so- 
cial life  were  marked  by  holy  rites,  made  attractive  by  singing, 
processions,  and  dances.  But  the  whole  svstem  goes  to  pieces  in 
the  presence  of  civilization  and  Christianity.  The  people  are  dis- 
concerted and  perplexed.  They  lose  all  faith.  They  know  not 
which  way  to  turn.  They  are  helpless.  They  become  hopeless. 
They  become  reckless  and  do  desperate  deeds,  or  they  become 
broken-hearted  and  sink  into  pauperism,  loathsome  disease,  and 
death. 

Let  the  religious  gatherings  be  strong  and  convey  a  sense  of 
strength.  I  should  say,  therefore,  be  sure  that,  at  first  at  least, 
the  gatherings  are  thoroughly  homogeneous,  that  is,  that  only 
Indians  are  present;  or,  at  least,  only  those  who  are  like-minded 
with  the  missionary  and  sympathetic.  Have  no  staring  specta- 
tors, especially  none  of  our  brazen  race.  The  Indian  is  shy. 
Such  heterogeneous  presence  tends  to  weaken.  I  attribute  any 
success  met  with  in  South  Dakota  largely  to  the  fact  that  provi- 
dentially a  large  body  of  comparatively  homogeneous  Indians 
was  opened  to  our  endeavors  and  that  we  succeeded  in  gathering 
a  large  number  of  congregations — they  number  ninety — who 
come  together  in  convocation  by  the  thousand  and  go  away  feel- 
ing their  power.  If  the  tribe  to  be  worked  with  is  small,  the  dif- 
ficulties are  much  increased.  I  should  say  overcome  the  smallness 
of  numbers  by  intensity  in  spirit  and  effectiveness  in  methods. 
What  you  lack  in  extensiveness  make  up  by  saliency  and  point. 
Let  the  church  building  be  a  good  one.  the  vestments  brilliantly 
white  and  pure,  and  the  music  confident — better  strong  and  rude 
than  artistic  and  timid.  Let  the  bishop  and  some  of  the  outside 
clergy  occasionally  visit  the  mission  (more  frequently  than  once  a 
year),  and  appear  with  the  missionary  in  solemn  procession.  In 
the  case  of  the  small  tribe  practical  beneficence  has  peculiar  value, 
'  and  it  should  take,  in  my  opinion,  the  form  not  of  schools  only, 
but  give  more  incontrovertible  evidences  of  kindness,  such  as 
provision  for  the  sick,  and  the  old,  and  the  helpless  poor.  It  is 
a  striking  fact  that  the  success  of  the  Messiah  is  assigned  by 
the  Psalmist  to  such  beneficence.  "  For,"  he  says,  "  He  shall  de- 
liver the  poor  when  he  crieth,  the  needy  also  and  him  that  hath 
no  helper." 


98  EVANGELIZING  DEPENDENT  RAGES  IN  AMERICA. 

An  Indian  mission  should  therefore  meet  the  Indian  just  where 
he  is;  appropriate  what  is  good  in  his  religion  and  take  it  up 
into  the  fuller  and  newer  life  of  our  religion.  To  use  a  scriptural 
figure,  "  The  wild  olive  should  he  grafted  into  the  tame  olive 
tree/'  and  our  religion  should  he  presented  to  him  in  a  way  to 
enlist  his  imagination  and  encourage  his  heart.  The  religion 
which  has  its  Bible  stories,  its  outward  and  visible  signs  of  inward 
and  spiritual  grace,  its  sacred  seasons,  its  solemn  liturgy  and 
ritual,  can,  in  the  hands  of  experts,  readily  do  all  this.  An  Indian 
once  saluted  me  with  this  confession :  "  We  Indians  have  nO' 
paper  from  God  [he  meant  no  written  revelation],  but  we  pray 
to  God.  and,  when  we  think  we  have  anything  that  will  please 
Him,  we  offer  it  to  Him  and  ask  Him  to  have  pity  on  us."  Who 
could  rebuff  an  Indian's  religion  after  a  salutation  like  that? 

Of  course  the  three  manuals  which  the  Church  puts  into  the 
hands  of  her  children — the  Bible,  the  Prayer  Book,  and  the 
Hymnal — should  be  committed  to  the  Indians,  if  possible,  in 
their  own  language,  and  as  all  of  them  in  the  early  days  of  the 
mission  among  them,  and  many  of  them  to  their  lives'  end,  will 
not  be  able  to  read  and  write,  the  memorizing  of  the  most  im- 
portant parts  of  these  manuals  should  be  made  an  important 
part  of  their  Christian  training.  There  should  be  services  in 
which  the  whole  congregation  should  be  trained  in  saying  audibly 
together  sacred  words  and  in  assuming  postures  suitable  to  wor- 
ship. 

Further,  to  preserve  and  develop  the  Indians'  strength,  give 
them  sufficient  opportunities  of  putting  forth  this  strength  spon- 
taneously and  freely  in  meetings  in  which  they  shall  seem  to 
themselves  to  be  priine  movers.  Xo  dependent  people,  whether 
of  the  Indian  or  of  the  colored  race,  will  do  their  best  if  they  are 
so  outnumbered  and  overshadowed — much  less  if  they  are  so  over- 
borne— by  the  superior  race  that  their  proper  self-confidence  is 
undermined  and  their  own  initiativeness  and  freedom  of  thought 
and  expression  hindered.  Such  a  relation  puts  them  in  a  discon- 
certing, embarrassing,  enfeebling  position  of  conscious  nobodies. 
Let  them  have  their  own  convocations.  Let  one  of  their  own 
number  be  their  presiding  officer — at  least  in  the  absence  from 
the  chair  of  the  bishop,  and  that  absence,  I  should  say,  should 
frequently  occur.  Let  them  assert  their  wills  in  the  election  of 
their  officers.  Let  them  freely  express  their  minds  by  debating^ 
questions  and  passing  resolutions.  To  most  persons  passing  reso- 
lutions is  as  satisfactory  as  making  laws,  and  often  quite  as  ef- 
fective. 

This  plan  has  been  followed  in  South  Dakota  with  marked  suc- 
cess, though  the  Indian  convocation  there  is  made  up  of  those 
who  a  few  years  ago  were  known  everywhere  as  the  turbulent  and 
warlike  Sioux,  and  though  the  native  clergy  stand  to  the  white 
clergv  in  the  ratio  of  16  to  6,  and  the  Indians  outnumber  the 
whites  more  than  one  hundred  times,  and  though  the  convoca- 


BISHOP  OF  NORTH  DAKOTA. 


99- 


tions  are  held  in  the  wild  country,  far  away  from  the  influence  of 
the  white  man's  greatness,  all  the  proceedings  move  along  with 
admirable  decency  and  good  order. 

Now,  speaking' more  broadly,  let  all  methods  be  inspired  and 
pervaded  bv  a  generous  human  spirit.  In  other  words,  let  there 
be  identification  with  the  subjects  of  our  effort.  This  is  an  essen- 
tial of  Christian  work  always,  everywhere,  and  among  all  classes. 
The  fundamental  of  our  Christian  faith  is  the  identification  of 
the  Son  of  God  with  the  subjects  of  His  interest.  "He  took 
manhood  into  God,"  and  if  He  did  this  in  His  person  He  did  it 
also  in  His  life.  He  put  Himself  on  a  level  with  the  woman  of 
Samaria,  identified  Himself  with  her  by  asking  a  favor,  "  Give 
me  to  drink,"'  before  He  undertook  to  "touch  the  sore  place  in 
her  heart.  It  was  this  Christ  living  in  him  that  made  St.  Paul 
identify  himself  with  the  people  of  Lycaonia  and  say,  "  He  gave  -u*- 
rain  from  heaven,  and  fruitful  seasons,  filling  our  hearts  with 
food  and  gladness."  Our  religion  is  a  ladder  whose  top,  to  be 
sure,  reaches  unto  heaven;  but  only  as  we  enable  men  to  see  it 
set  up  on  earth  right  alongside  them,  as  God  placed  the  ladder 
alongside  Jacob  in  his  vision,  will  men  realize  that  our  religion 
is  for  each  one  the  gate  of  heaven.  A  well-meaning  tract  distrib- 
utor once  told  me  of  his  discomfiture  by  reason  of  failure  to  prac- 
tice identification.  As  he  passed  along  through  the  market  he 
handed  a  butcher  a  tract.  The  butcher  called  after  him.  "  Say, 
mister,  have  you  read  it  yourself?"  And  as  he  had  not  read 
it  he  beat  a  quick  retreat. 

So  far  as  my  observation  goes,  nothing  has  more  marred  and 
vitiated  missionarv  enterprise  both  at  home  and  abroad  than  lack 
of  just  this  fellow-feeling  with  the  subjects  of  missionary  efforts 
— lack  of  quick  ability  to  appreciate  and  ready  power  to  do  what- 
ever is  required  bv  circimistances.  This  is  the  special  infirmity 
of  our  Ando-Saxon  stock.  There  is  a  certain  obtuseness  which 
makes  us  fail  to  feel  the  situation.  There  is  a  proud  unwilling- 
ness to  put  ourselves  in  the  other  man's  place  and  to  see  with 
his  eyes,  yea,  a  haughty  denial  that  any  sentiment  can  be  sacred 
unless  it  be  our  sentiment;  that  anything  can  be  a  real  conviction 
and  have  anv  power  with  another  unless  it  be  our  conviction  and 
have  power  with  us.  The  undertaking  to  open  a  man's  eyes  to 
the  fact  that  he  and  all  whom  he  loves  and  reverences  most  have 
been  in  error,  to  turn  a  man  from  modes  of  thought  and  habits 
of  action  which  are  dear  to  him,  must  always  be  a  delicate  task. 
It  is  hard  to  save  it  from  being  an  exasperating  process.  The 
personality  of  the  missionary  is  often  unattractive  to  a  man  of 
different  race.  The  foreigner,  though  an  expert  linguist,  rarely 
appreciates  the  delicate  turns  of  expression  and  other  rhetorical 
processes  bv  which  speech  is  saved  from  rudeness  and  given  the 
form  of  delicate  suggestiveness  and  not  of  absolute  assertion. 
And  yet  we  are  disposed  to  stand  off  as  their  critics  from  the 
people  whom  we  are  called  to  serve,  and  to  discuss  their  racial 


100  EVANGELIZING  DEPENDENT  RACES  IN   AMERICA. 

and  natural  and  personal  peculiarities  in  letters  to  newspapers 
and  magazines.  Even  our  petitions  for  them  in  intercessory 
prayer  sometimes  take  on  a  condescending  and  patronizing  air, 
which  is  particularly  offensive  when  it  is  applied  to  the  rulers  of 
the  foreign  land  where  the  missionaries  are  in  a  certain  sense 
guests,  Imvering  the  rulers  before  their  own  people  by  praying 
publicly  for  them  that  they  may  be  turned  from  darkness  unto 
lio-ht  and  from  the  power  of  Satan  unto  God.  Lecky,  in  his 
book,  '•'  The  Map  of  Life,"  has  shown  that  the  event  which  he 
terms  "  the  awful  mutiny  "  in  India,  which  for  a  time  shook  the 
English  power  there  to  its  very  foundation,  took  its  rise  in  just 
this  defect.  "It  was  simply  a  glaring  instance  of  indifference, 
ignorance,  and  incapacity  too  often  sho^-n  by  British  admin- 
istrators in  dealing  with  beliefs  and  types  of  character  wholly 
unlike  their  own." 

Cow's  fat  and  lard  were  used  in  the  lubricating  mixture  with 
which  the  cartridges  issued  to  the  Sepoy  soldiers  were  smeared, 
^'one  of  these  ingredients  being  utterly  impure  in  the  eyes  of 
the  Hindoo,  and  the  other  in  the  eves  of  the  Mussulman.  To  bite 
these  cartridges  would  destroy  the  caste  of  the  Hindoo,  and  carry 
with  it  the  loss  of  everything  that  was  most  dear  and  most  sacred 
to  him  both  in  this  world  and  in  the  next.  In  the  eyes  of  both 
Moslem  and  Hindoo  it  was  the  gravest  and  most  irreparable  of 
crimes,  destro.ying  all  hopes  in  a  future  world,  and  yet  this  crime, 
in  their  belief,  was  imposed  upon  them  as  a  matter  of  military 
duty  by  their  officers."  What  had  seemed  to  be  the  unalterable 
devotion  of  the  Sepoy  regiments  gave  way  under  this  strain,  and 
they  retaliated  in  the  most  horrible  excesses. 

In  missionary  annals  the  story  is  famous  of  Gorman,  the  first 
missionary  bishop  sent  to  the  ISTorthumbrian  English.  Harsh 
and  unsympathetic,  he  met  with  no  success,  and  returned  in  dis- 
appointment to  his  monastery  and  reported  the  English  as  stub- 
born and  barbarous.  "  Hard  \\'ith  hard  makes  no  wall,"  says 
Fuller  quaintly,  quoting  the  old  proverb,  "  and  no  wonder  if  the 
spiritual  building  went  on  no  better,  wherein  the  austerity  and 
harshness  of  the  pastor  met  the  ignorance  and  sturdiness  of  the 
people."  He  was  succeeded  by  Aiden,  a  man  of  very  sympa- 
thetic spirit.  He  had  the  art  of  condescending  to  babes  and 
feeding  them  with  milk.  He  threw  himself  in  with  the  people. 
He  hated  display  and  generally  traveled  on  foot  and  gave  himself 
to  house-to-house  visitation.  A  humble  church  of  split  oak, 
thatched  with  coarse  grass,  satisfied  his  ambition  at  first.  He 
gathered  the  boys  of  the  English  about  him  that  he  might  train 
them  to  be  evangelists  to  their  own  people.  Xo  wonder  he  is  said 
to  have  possessed  a  "  singular  charm  of  manner  and  address, 
which  first  won  his  hearers  and  then  incited  them  to  an  imitation 
of  his  own  virtues." 

For  every  reason  the  missionary  should  drive  himself  to 
identify  himself  with  the  people  to  whom  he  is  sent,  and  avoid 


BISHOP  OF  NORTH  DAKOTA.  101 

presenting  his  particular,  perhaps  crude,  views  to  the  heathen  in 
such  a  way  that  they  seem  to  them  as  "  the  cow's  fat  and  lard  " 
seemed  to  the  Mussulman  and  Sepoy. 

As  part  of  his  identification  with  liis  people  the  missionary 
should  be  their  confidant  on  any  subject  pertaining  to  their  per- 
sonal or  material  welfare,  to  their  relation  to  each  other,  or  their 
relation  to  the  authorities,  so  far  as  any  of  the  people  may  choose 
to  call  him  to  their  confidence — being  very  careful,  however,  that 
he  is  not  so  ready  to  receive  confidences  as  to  come  to  be  regarded 
as  a  sort  of  common  sewer  into  which  anyone  may  dump  his 
filth,  nor  so  ready  to  give  credence  to  complaints  and  communicate 
them  to  others  as  to  make  himself  a  nuisance.  At  the  same  time, 
missionaries  should  confine  themselves  as  much  as  possible  to 
their  own  calling  and  their  own  sphere  of  work,  and  not  con- 
sider themselves  inspectors  of  government  officials  among  the 
Indians,  any  more  than  a  good  citizen,  occup^^ng  the  office  of  a 
clergyman  among  the  whites,  should  consider  himself  a  universal 
censor  morum  and  a  judge  of  civil  officials  there.  He  should  bear 
in  mind  that  honor  and  obedience  are  due  to  government  officials 
because  of  their  office,  and  that  he  can  do  no  more  injurious 
w^ork  than  to  breed  a  spirit  of  discontent  and  sedition;  and  re- 
member also  this  fact,  that  anyone  who  stands  off  and  thinks 
how  a  work  should  be  done  will  always  be  a  mere  critic  and  a 
hypercritic.  We  always  think  that  we  can  do  another  man's 
work  better  than  he  does  it.  There  is  a  deal  of  wisdom  in  the 
sarcasm,  "  Old  maid's  children  are  always  well  brought  up." 

Another  help  to  identification  will  be  the  use  of  the  native 
tongue,  often  a  very  difficult,  nay,  an  impossible  thing,  as  many 
tribes  of  Indians  number  but  a  few  hundred,  and  the  languages 
are  many.  (In  North  America  alone  there  are  sixty  distinct  lin- 
guistic stocks.)  But  what  is  much  dearer  to  a  man  than  the 
native  tongue  in  which  he  was  born?  The  missionary  is  after 
the  man.  The  mind  and  the  heart  are  the  man.  How  can  you 
reach  the  mind  and  the  heart  of  the  man  except  with  the  language 
that  he  knows  and  loves?  Some  missionaries  have  doubtless 
clung  to  the  native  language  too  much  and  too  long.  Govern- 
ment officials,  on  the  other  hand,  rarely  recognize  sufficiently  the 
value  of  the  native  tongue — perhaps  because  they  have  so  much 
to  do  with  the  outside  of  the  man  and  so  little  to  do  with  his 
mind  and  heart.  It  is  a  strange  thing,  certainly,  when,  as  some- 
times happens,  a  government  official  forbids  the  missionary  to 
speak  to  Indian  children  in  their  own  tongue  when  gathered  in 
church  or  school,  and  yet,  when  he  wishes  particularly  to  make 
those  very  children  understand,  asks  the  missionary  to  interpret 
for  him! 

As  another  element  of  identification,  let  me  mention  the  rais- 
ing up  and  employment  of  a  staff  of  native  workers.  The  natives 
will,  of  course,  often  lack  the  power  of  initiative,  the  sustained 
energy,  the  knowledge  of  the  world  and  of  affairs,  and  especially 


102  EVANGELIZING  DEPENDENT  RACES  IN  AMERICA. 

the  mental  equipoise  of  the  Anglo-Saxon;  but  they  know  their 
own  people  as  no  one  else  can,  and  making  use  of  them  will  brmg- 
with  it  many  advantages.  ,      -r    -,.  xi    • 

First  this  method  of  working  meets  the  Indians  on  their  own 
plane-  second,  it  identifies  them  with  ourselves,  and  ourselves 
with  them  and  shows  that  "  place  "  is  not  reserved  for  the  white 
race  onlv  third,  it  makes  use  of  and  gives  honor  to  men  who, 
while  they  mav  have  but  little  education,  have  good  intentions, 
much  tribal  influence,  and  fair  gifts  of  leadership;  fourth,  it 
multiplies  assistants  at  comparatively  small  cost,  and  thus  reaches 
the  many  widelv  separated  little  settlements  of  Indians  who  could 
not  be  ministered  to  by  the  clergy  except  very  occasionally,  say 
once  a  month:  and,  fifth,  it  raises  up  a  body  of  workers  in  which 
suitable  candidates  for  the  sacred  ministry  may  grow  up  and  be 

tested. 

These  assistants  need  not  be  the  regular  teachers  of  the  people. 
Their  office  may  be  rather  that  of  pioneers  and  recruiting  agents, 
to  mingle  with  the  people  and  conciliate  them;  to  rally  them  in 
religious  meetings,  and  to  lead  them  in  singing,  and  train  them  in 
the^'simpler  portions  of  the  Prayer  Book  service  and  in  the  Cate- 
chism. Let  them  speak  also  the  word  of  exhortation.  Then 
later,  if  they  approve  themselves,  they  may  become  senior  cate- 
chists  and  wear  an  appropriate  badge. 

My  theme  has  been  methods,  but,  of  course,  methods  of  work 
have  but  one  end,  the  bringing  the  Indian  to  the  intimate  knowl- 
edge and  full  possession  of  the  Christ — Christ,  bread  of  life  to  the 
hungry:  Christ,  water  of  life  to  the  thirsty;  Christ,  light  and 
life  to' them  that  sit  in  darkness;  Christ,  open  door  to  those  wha 
grope  in  the  dark;  Christ,  companion  and  example  along  life's 
pathway;  Christ,  the  joy  of  the  heart:  Christ,  the  very  elect  of 
Grod,  in  whom  God's  soul  delighteth. 

IsTow  to  conclude.  It  has  appeared,  as  I  have  pursued  my 
theme,  that  the  proper  methods  of  approaching  the  Indians  have 
been  conceived  of  as  embracing  the  Indian  in  the  whole  man — 
the  Indian  in  his  body,  soul,  and  spirit — the  Indian  as  a  man 
to  whom  it  is  appointed  to  live,  and  a  man  to  whom  it  is  ap- 
pointed to  die,  and  so  I  have  discussed  methods  of  work  without 
so  much  as  raising  the  favorite  question  whether  the  Indian  race- 
is  what  is  called  a  "  dying  race  "  or  not.  They  have,  by  the  bye, 
been  called  a  dying  race  so  long,  and  have  so  long  survived  and 
disappointed  those  who  have  called  them  a  dying  race,  that  one 
wonders  that  they  do  not  turn  to  us  as -sick  Charles  II.  is  said 
to  have  turned  to  his  attendants,  and  ask  our  pardon  for  "  being 
such  an  unconscionable  time  in  dying." 

But  whatever  may  be  the  lot  of  the  Indians,  duty  still  calls  ajs 
to  work  for  them.  Suppose  these  people  be  designed  by  Provi- 
dence to  be  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water;  our  duty  is 
to  fit  them  for  that  lot.  Suppose  they  are  to  be  merged  in  our 
more  numerous  race;  our  duty  is  to  fit  them  for  that  absorption 


BISHOP  OF  CALGARY. 


103 


"by  lawful  and  proper  intermarriage,  and  so  arrest  the  present 
vicious  intermingling.  Suppose  they  are  to  die  out:  our  duty  is 
■to  prepare  them  for  a  safe  and  decent  departure.  Our  duty  is 
the  plainer,  because  the  treatment  which  will  fit  them  for  any 
one  of  these  ends  will  fit  them  for  the  others. 


FEIDAY  MORXING. 

SLcth  Topic. 

AIETHODS   OF  THE   CHURCH'S  WORK  IX  EVAXGELIZ- 
INO  THE   SPECIALLY  DEPENDENT  RACES 

IN  a:merica. 

(b)  THE  INDIAN  RACES. 

Second  Paper. 

The  Right  Rev.  William  Cypkian  Pinkham,  D.D., 

BISHOP  OF  CALGARY. 

The  history  of  the  Church's  work  among  the  various  races  and 
-tribes  of  Indians  found  in  North  America  exhibits  the  employ- 
ment of  methods  of  universal  application  as  well  as  of  those 
wliich  have  been  found  necessary  owing  to  the  special  conditions 
and  circumstances  of  the  Indians. 

Work  for  the  colonist  naturally  led  to  work  for  the  heathen, 
amongst  whom  he  had  settled.  In  the  memorial  presented  to 
S.  P.  C.  K.  by  Dr.  Bray  in  1698,  within  two  months  from  the 
first  meeting  of  that  society,  as  to  what  was  specially  needed  to 
he  done  for  the  colonists  in  their  plantations,  he  speaks  as  fol- 
lows in  the  last  paragraph : 

"  And  lastly,  in  order  to  convert  the  Indian  nations,  it  seems 
fi  likely  method  could  there  be  provision  for  the  Education  of 
some  o^f  their  Youths,  in  Schools  for  that  purpose,  who,  after  a 
thorough  instruction  in  the  Christian  Faith,  might  be  sent  back 
amongst  their  own  natives,  as  ye  properest  persons  to  convert 
them,  and  deale  with  them  for  their  souls'  good:  'When  thou 
art  converted  strengthen  thy  brethren.' " 

Evidently  the  European  missionary,  with  his  Bible  and  Prayer 
Book,  and  "an  interpreter  by  his  side,  soon  found  how  powerless 
he  was  in  declaring  to  heathen  Indians  the  things  of  God.  And 
it  became  necessary,  not  only  to  learn  the  language  of  the  tribe 
he  was  sent  to,  and.  when  he  had  made  sufficient  progress  in  it, 
undertake  translations,  and  sometimes,  as  the  late  Bishop  Hor- 
den,  Archdeacon  Mackav,  and  others  have  done,  print  and  bind 
such  translations  in  the  first  instance,  but,  above  all,  to  secure 
as  soon  as  possible  efficient  native  help.  Hence  it  is  not  surpris- 
ing to  find  the  first  Bishop  of  Rupert's  Land  saying  in  his  ser- 


104  EVANGELIZING  DEPENDENT  RACES  IN  AMERICA, 

mon  at  the  ordination  in  1850  of  Henry  Biidd,  the  first  native 
cleTgyman  for  his  vast  diocese : 

"This  day  is  an  earnest  of  better  things.  One  from  among- 
them  is  now  before  you,  already  blessed  in  turning  many  to  right- 
eousness. .  .  .  If  I  be  not  an  apostle  to  others,  yet  doubtless 
I  am  to  you,  my  Indian  brethren;  for,  among  yourselves,  one 
stands  forth  to  say :  '  Send  me  as  an  herald  to  my  own  kinsmen, 
according  to  the  flesh ;  send  me  to  beseech  them,  In  Christ's  name 
be  ye  reconciled  to  God.'  And  in  1852,  at  the  ordination  of 
James  Setter,  the  second  Indian  clergy-man  in  the  diocese: 
'  Trained  in  our  schools  you  are  familiar  with  our  thoughts  and 
feelings,  and  instructed  in  the  compass  of  Scripture;  and  familiar, 
too,  with  the  thoughts  and  feelings  of  the  Indian,  you  bring 
salvation  near  to  him,  looking  back  on  the  method  by  which.  G-od 
enlightened  your  own  soul.'  " 

The  value  of  having  translations  made  and  books  printed 
in  the  language  of  the  Indians  was  soon  learnt.  The  first  Bible 
printed  in  America  was  the  Indian  version  of  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
translated  by  John  Eliot,  the  apostle  of  the  Indians  of  North 
America,  and  issued  at  Cambridge,  Mass.,  about  the  year 
1663.  , 

The  Bible  Society  has  done  excellent  work  by  publishing  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  or  portions  thereof,  in  different  Indian  lan- 
guages. But  S.  P.  C.  K.,  as  the  list  of  its  publications  clearly 
shows,  has  been  a  constant  and  most  invaluable  friend  to  Indian 
work. 

The  foundation  and  organization  of  dioceses  in  the  Ecclesi- 
astical Province  of  Rupert's  Land,  in  some  of  which  the  popula- 
tion still  consists  almost  entirely  of  Indians,  while  in  the  rest 
there  is  a  considerable  number  ^f  Indians  whose  first  bishops 
have  been,  in  several  instances,  Indian  missionaries  of  tried  and 
approved  experience,  has  given  an  impetus  to  the  evangelization 
of  the  Indians  and  greatly  multiplied  the  methods  used  for  brino-- 
mg  them  to  Christ. 

In  Indian  missions,  the  Church's  work  is  carried  on  in  much 
the  same  manner  as  in  missions  for  white  people.  Sunday  ser- 
vices are  held  regularly;  there  are  regular  celebrations  of  the 
Holy  Communion,  at  which  offerings  are  sought  for  general  and 
special  objects;  week-day  services,  morning  and  evening,  in  some 
of  our  missions,  especially  when  the  Indians  are  at  home;  Sundav 
schools;  Bible  classes;  and  prayer  meetings— all  in  the  language 
spoken  by  the  Indians.  In  some  of  the  missions  manv  of  the 
Indians  show  great  familiarity  with  IIolv  Scripture,  and  manv 
ot  them  regularly  conduct  Family  Prayer."  When  the  missionarV 
IS  absent  one  of  the  best  instructed  Indians  conducts  divine 
service.  At  the  Peigan  Mission,  in  the  diocese  of  Calgary,  the 
newly  converted  Christian  Indians  take  a  special  pride  in  their 
Jittle  church.  They  hauled  the  material  for  the  building;  some 
of  them  have  given  money  towards  its  completion;  while  others 


BISHOP  OF  CALGARY  105 

have  donated  articles  of  church  furniture,  chancel  chairs,  Altar 
rails,  prayer  desk,  pulpit,  and  so  on. 

There  is  a  steady  effort  made  to  convert  the  heathen,  and  among- 
heathen  Indians  Christianity  is  steadily  gaining  ground. 

Previously  to  their  admission  to  Holy  Baptism  they  are  care- 
fully instructed,  and  the  instruction  is  carried  on  to  Confirma- 
tion and  Holy  Communion. 

Periodical  visits  are  made  by  the  missionary  to  outlying  mis- 
sions, and  to  the  Indians  when  engaged  in  fishing  and  hunting. 

Our  Indian  missionaries  have  been  civilizers  and  colonizers; 
while  teaching  the  truths  of  the  Christian  religion  they  have 
taught  the  Indians  to  farm,  to  cultivate  their  gardens,  to  take 
care  of  cattle,  to  build  houses,  and  so  on.  And,  with  the  preach- 
ing of  the  Gospel,  the  education  of  the  young  went  hand  in  hand. 
St.  John's  College,  Winnipeg,  now  one  of  the  colleges  in  affilia- 
tion with  the  Universitv  of  Manitoba,  had  its  origin  in  the  need 
Eev.  John  West  felt,  in  1820,  for  training  Indian  boys.  Emman- 
uel College,  Prince  Albert,  was  started  by  the  first  Bishop  of  Sas- 
katchewan, in  1879,  from  the  sense  of  need  entertained  for  a 
trained  band  of  interpreters,  schoolmasters,  catechists,  and 
pastors,  who,  being  themselves  natives  of  the  country,  would  be 
familiar  with  the  language  and  mode  of  thought  of  the  people. 
Two  of  the  native  clerg}%  and  most  of  the  teachers  of  the  Indian 
day  schools  in  the  diocese,  received  their  training  there. 

Before  treaty  was  made  with  the  Indians  of  Manitoba  and  the 
Northwest  territories,  every  Indian  mission  had  its  school  and 
its  teacher  as  well  as  its  ordained  missionary.  The  school  was 
under  the  direction  of  the  missionary,  and  the  teacher  was  his 
lay-assistant,  who  sometimes,  when  the  missionary  was  not  fully 
conversant  with  the  language,  acted  as  interpreter.  When  the 
Grovernment  of  Canada  made  treaty  with  the  Indians  it  made 
itself  responsible  for  the  education  of  Indian  children.  In  this 
work  it  has  recognized  the  work  of  the  various  religious  bodies 
by  giving  them  control  of  those  schools  which  were  in  existence 
when  treaty  was  made,  as  well  as  of  those  which  each  body  has 
since  been  able  to  induce  it,  through  the  Indian  Department,  to 
establish. 

There  are  three  kinds  of  Indian  schools  now  in  existence,  viz.^ 
Industrial,  Boarding,  and  Day  Schools,  all  of  them  denomina- 
tional. Indeed  there  are  four,  for  the  Indian  Department  recog- 
nizes and  almost  entirely  supports  Emmanuel  College,  Prince 
Albert,  as  an  institution  for  the  training  of  Indian  boys  and 
girls,  with  a  view  to  them  becoming  teachers  in  the  Church  of 
England  Indian  day  schools  in  the  diocese.  Industrial  schools 
are  wholly  maintained  by  the  Indian  Department  of  Canada, 
but  the  provision  made  for  the  support  of  the  day  schools  and 
boarding  schools  is  inadequate,  and  the  Church  has  been  under 
the  necessity  of  spending  a  considerable  sum  every  year  to  sup- 
plement the  outlay  of  the  Indian  Department.     The  Church  nom- 


106  EVANGELIZING  DEPENDENT  RACES  IN  AMERICA. 

mates  all  teachers  in  all  its  Indian  schools.  The  principals  of  the 
Emmanuel  College  Indian  training  school  of  the  Industrial 
Schools  at  Battleford  and  Calgary  respectively,  and  of  most  of 
Indian  Boarding  Schools,  are  clergymen  holding  the  bishop's  li- 
cense. The  result  of  all  this  is  that  religious  and  secular  edu- 
cation go  on  together,  and  the  Indian  schools  all  over  Canada,  in 
connection  with  the  Church,  are  nurseries  of  the  Church.  They 
are  annually  inspected  and  reported  on  by  officials  of  the  Indian 
Department  and  they  are  doing  excellent  work. 

But  the  object  aimed  at  in  the  education  of  Indian  boys  and 
young  men,  in  the  Indian  industrial  schools  of  Canada,  is  greatly 
jeopardized  by  the  want  of  any  definite  scheme  for  their  future 
v\^elfare.  when  they  leave  school  They  are  permitted  to  return  to 
the  Eeserve  to  which  they  belong;  and  although  some  get  along 
very  well,  a  percentage  of  them  fall  back,  and  become  in  most 
respects  no  better  than  the  lowest  Indians  on  the  Reserve.  We 
see  the  evil  of  this,  and  some  of  us  think  a  remedy  can  be  pro- 
vided, but  it  lies  with  the  Indian  Department,  and  the  Church's 
influence  so  far  has  not  been  strong  enough  to  induce  the  Depart- 
ment to  grapple  with  the  evil,  and,  if  possible,  remove  it. 

In  the  Ecclesiastical  Province  of  Rupert's  Land,  the  native 
■clergy,  of  whom  there  have  been  from  time  to  time  a  good  number, 
.are  on  precisely  the  same  footing  as  all  other  deacons  and  priests 
in  their  respective  dioceses.  As  long  as  they  hold  the  bishop's 
license,  they  are  members  of  the  Diocesan  Synod,  and  those  who 
are  priests  are  eligible  for  election  on  its  committees,  and  as 
•clerical  delegates  to  the  Provincial  and  General  Synods. 

Indian  congregations"  are  organized  in  the  same  manner,  and 
all  entitled  to  the  same  representation  in  our  Diocesan  Synods  as 
congregations  of  white  people.  Indian  lay-delegates,  represent- 
ing the  congregations  of  which  they  are  members,  and  elected  by 
the  male  communicants  of  such  congregations,  have  constantly 
sat  in  the  Diocesan  Synods  of  Rupert's  Land  and  Saskatchewan. 
During  the  sessions  of  one  meeting  of  the  Synod  of  Calgary,  a 
full-blooded  Blackfoot  Indian,  who  holds  the  Bishop's  license  as  a 
catechist,  represented  the  Blackfoot  congregation.  The  late  chief 
Attachkakoop,  or  Starblanket.  was,  on  several  occasions,  elected  a 
■delegate  to  the  Provincial  Synod  of  Rupert's  Land,  by  the  Synod 
of  Saskatchewan  to  which  he  was  for  many  years  a  lay-delegate, 
b>ut  he  never  attended. 

During  recent  years,  since  the  establishment  of  medical  mis- 
sions, as  one  of  the  methods  for  bringing  souls  to  Christ,  hospitals 
Tiave  been  established  and  medical  work  has  been  done  for  our 
Indians.  There  are  hospitals  at  Lytton,  in  British  Columbia;  at 
Dynevor  in  Manitoba;  on  the  Blackfoot  Reserve,  in  the  Diocese  of 
€algary,  and  at  Moose  Factory.  At  the  St.  Barnabas  Home  for 
native  children.  Onion  Lake,  Saskatchewan,  the  wife  of  the  mis- 
sionary, who  is  also  principal  of  the  Home,  is  an  M.  D.,  who  at 
great  self-sacrifice  on  her  own  part,  and  on  that  of  her  husband, 


BISHOP  OF  ALBANY.  107 

obtained  her  professional  education.  This  lady  not  only  ministers 
to  the  sick  in  the  Home,  she  also  attends  the  sick  Indians  and  set- 
tlers throughout  that  part  of  the  country  when  they  need  her  ser- 
vices. There  is  a  trained  nurse  on  the  staff  of  the  Battleford  In- 
dian Industrial  School  and  one  in  connection  with  the  boarding 
schools  on  the  Blood  Eeserve.  In  many  other  cases  professional 
visits  are  made  periodically  and  the  Indians  are  treated  in  their 
own  Iwmes.  Speaking  of  the  hospital,  and  of  the  dispensing  of 
medicine,  Archdeacon  Small  of  Lytton,  B.  C,  says :  "  We  regard 
this  as  one  of  the  most  practical  ways  of  breaking  down  the  in- 
fluence of  the  proverbial  Indian  medicine  man,"  and,  he  adds, 
^'  My  present  colleague  has  acquired  in  a  short  time  a  great  hoM 
-upon  the  Indians,  by  means  of  his  medical  skill  and  experience." 

There  is  no  doubt  that  wherever  in  the  heathen  world  medical 
work  has  been  introduced,  it  has  opened  the  way  for  the  Gospel, 
and  it  has  proved  an  inestimable  blessing  to  our  Indians,  whether 
Christians  or  heathen. 

In  view  of  the  probable  publication  of  this  paper,  I  append  to 
this  paper  statistics,  etc.,  for  three  years  from  January  1,  1899, 
to  December  31,  1901,  from  the  Triennial  Report  on  Indian  Mis- 
sions of  the  Synod  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Province  of  Rupert's 
Land.* 


FRIDAY  MORNING. 

Seventh  Topic. 

THE  OBLIGATION   OF  THE   CHURCH   TO   MAINTAIN 
THE  CHRISTIAN  FAMILY  IN  ITS  INTEGRITY. 

(a)   DIVORCE  AND  UNLAWFUL  MARRIAGE. 

First  Paper. 

The  Right  Rev.  William  Croswell  Doane,  D.D.,  LL.  D., 

BISHOP  OF  ALBANY. 

I  am  thankful  to  feel  and  free  to  say  that  we,  in  our  American 
Church,  have  been  sitting  at  the  feet  of  God  for  all  these  years  of 
discussion  about  this  tremendous  question  of  the  Church's  at- 
titude toward  the  question  of  marriage  and  of  remarriage,  as  I 
always  prefer  to  put  it,  after  divorce.  And  we  have  been  learn- 
ing the  great  lesson,  which  is  so  Godlike,  of  patience.  And  it 
has  been  the  patience  of  progress,  as  all  Godlike  patience  is.  And 
the  progress  has  been  made  in  two  ways  and  from  two  impulses. 
First  a  deepening  doubt,  from  more  careful  study  of  the  Word 
of  God,  as  to  any  warrant  that  can  be  found  in  it  anywhere  for 

*  These  tables  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix  to  this  volume,  commencing 
page  171. 


]08  THE  OBLIGATION  OF  THE  CHURCH, 

any  remarriage  after  divorce;  and  secondly,  the  growing  sense 
of  the  abominations  which  have  come  from  the  abuse  of  even  the 
supposed  non-prohibition.  Whatsoever  way  men's  minds  have 
run,  there  is  more  and  more  a  growing  consensus  that  something 
needs  to  be  done  to  arrest  the  spread  of  this  evil,  whether  it  be 
that  the  love  of  God  is  changing  the  minds  of  men,  or  that  the 
wrath  of  men  is  working  the  principles  of  God.  Either  way,  as 
St.  Paul  said,  whether  in  pretense  or  in  truth,  so  I  say,  whether 
from  conviction  on  religious  grounds,  or  from  the  compulsion  of 
social  security,  either  way  Christ  is  preached,  and  I  therein  do 
rejoice,  yea,  and  will  rejoice.  It  seems  naturally  unlikely  that  in 
the  twentieth  century  that  should  become  possible  which  for  six- 
teen centuries  before  this  has  been  impossible,  namely,  to  have 
agreement  on  the  same  premises  as  to  the  lawfulness  or  unlawful- 
ness of  the  remarriage  of  a  man  who  has  put  away  his  wife  for  for- 
nication. But  it  does  not  seem  to  me  impossible,  from  different 
and  opposite  premises,  to  reach  the  same  conclusion,  namely,  the 
courage,  not  of  compromise,  but  of  comprehension,  the  courage  of 
leaving  anv  seemingly  irreconcilable  utterances  to  be  reconciled  by 
God.  The  courage  of  silence  where  men  cannot  hear  the  voice  of 
Christ  distinctly  and  decidedly,  however  He  may  have  spoken;  the 
courage  of  realizing  that  the  ecclesia  docens  is  the  teaching- 
Church,  in  teaching  that  she  dare  not  legalize  by  canon  or  pro- 
mulgate as  law  one  or  the  other  interpretation  of  words,  doubtful 
alike  in  their  origin,  their  authority,  and  their  intention. 

Gathered  as  we  are  here,  representing  the  great  English-speak- 
ing portion  of  the  Catholic  Church,  we  have  a  common  inheri- 
tance of  worship  in  our  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  a  conunon 
descent  of  discipline  on  both  sides  of  the  sea.  And  from  the  one 
we  have  in  common  the  strong  and  Scriptural  teaching  of  the 
office  for  the  solemnization  of  matrimony,  that  the  man  and  the 
woman  are  joined  "  till  death  do  them  part."  and  the  strong  and 
Scriptural  warning  in  the  uniform  repetition  of  the  words  of  our 
dear  Lord,  "  Wliom  God  has  joined  together,  let  not  man  put 
asunder."'  And  while  this  Church  in  the  United  States,  in  her 
own  independent  power  and  right  as  a  national  Church,  has 
legislated  and  is  in  process  of  legislating  as  to  the  discipline  on 
this  question,  there  is  behind  it  the  strong  ground  of  the  old 
teaching  of  the  Church  of  England,  from  whose  discipline,  ac- 
cording to  our  own  avowal  in  the  Preface  of  the  Prayer  Book  we 
have  never  meant  to  depart,  driving  us,  as  I  believe,  to  the  point 
on  which  the  Church  of  England  stands  firm  to-day  in  her  ec- 
clesiastical law,  that  marriage  is  only  dissoluble  by  death.  Be- 
fore I  pass  to  the  argument  by  which  this  paper  proposes  to  prove 
that  the  one  way  to  protect  the  institution  of  Christian  mar- 
riage is  to  define  it  and  legislate  according  to  that  definition  as 
one  man  united  to  one  woman  until  the  union  is  severed  by 
death,  there  are  some  side  issues,  which  I  should  like  to  eliminate 
from  the  discussion. 


BISHOP  OF  ALBANY.  109 

First,  the  ideal  difficulty.  It  is  said  that  the  original  divine 
description  of  marriage  and  our  Lord's  adoption  of  it  as  a  general 
principle  is  an  ideal,  and  not  to  be  counted  as  a  legal  require- 
ment or  a  practical  possibility.  To  which  the  answer  is  that  the 
one  steady  aim  and  duty  of  religion  is  to  lift  men  up  to  the 
ideal  and  not  to  let  the  ideal  down  to  men.  The  human  life  of 
Jesus  Christ,  whose  legend  always  is  "  follow  me,"  is  the  ideal 
toward  which  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Christian  man  to  strain.  To 
lower  it  in  any  of  its  details  of  teaching  or  example  to  our  easy 
reach  takes  out  of  life  its  best  ambitions  and  its  highest  aims. 
When  the  human  law-giver  lowered  the  old  ideal  "because  of  the 
hardness  of  men's  hearts,"  it  followed  before  very  long  that  it 
was  thought  lawful  to  put  away  a  wife  for  any  cause,  and  when 
Constantine  lowered  it  because  of  the  intrusion  of  the  half- 
Christianized  world  into  the  Church,  the  thing  happened  that 
always  will  happen,  the  steady  downward  steps  by  which  the  stan- 
dard was  lowered  more  and  more. 

Secondly,  the  sentimental  difficulty.  It  is  said  that  either  a 
man  or  a  woman,  when  mutual  affection  and  respect  have  been 
destroyed  by  the  unfaithfulness  of  wife  or  husband,  is  far  more 
naturally  inclined  to  a  second  marriage  than  when  death  has  con- 
secrated the  memory  of  a  faithful  life,  and  that  therefore  the 
sentiment  is  far  stronger  against  the  idea  of  a  marriage  after 
widowhood  than  of  a  marriage  after  divorce.  To  which  it  is  to  be 
said  that  sentiment  cannot  overrule  or  override  Divine  law  either 
in  giving  or  in  taking  away  the  liberty  of  that  law;  that  the  one 
case  is  sin  comforting  itself  by  added  sin,  and  the  other  is  sorrow 
finding  a  consolation  which  the  law  of  God  allows. 

Thirdly,  the  hardship  difficulty.  There  is  always  hardship  in 
the  enforcement  of  law,  and  always  hardship  as  the  result  of 
sin.  When  a  law  lays  down  penalties  it  does  it  in  order  to  save 
people  from  the  hardship  consequent  upon  its  violation.  That  in 
this  instance  the  innocent  may  suffer  for  the  guilty  is  in  entire 
accord  with  the  uniform  facts  of  life.  It  is  hard  to  believe  that 
the  real  hardship,  namely,  that  all  unhappy  marriage  and  unre- 
strained passion  would  not  be  lessened  if  not  avoided,  if  it  were 
realized  from  the  beginning  that  the  marriage  bond  could  never 
be  dissolved,  and  that  people  must  therefore  adapt  themselves  to 
it  and  avoid  the  things  that  make  it  hard  to  bear.  And  while  for 
many  reasons,  some  technical  and  some  natural,  the  innocent 
party  is  hard  to  find,  the  awful  element  of  collusion  to  secure 
divorce,  and  the  outrage  of  the  subsequent  marriage  between  the 
parties  who  had  committed  the  sin,  enhance  the  horror  of  the 
situation  to-day. 

Fourthly,  what  I  think  I  may  call  the  academic  difficulty, 
stated  not  for  the  first  time  here,  but  urged  in  the  argument  in 
the  House  of  Deputies  two  years  ago,  somewhat  in  this  way. 
"  That  the  nations  of  Europe  most  lax  in  morals  are  able  to 
point  the  finger  of  scorn  at  our  frequency  of  divorce.     May  not 


110  THE  OBLIGATION  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

this  anomaly  of  laxity  of  morals  and  no  divorce  in  some  countries, 
and  comparative  purity  with  frequency  of  divorce,  cause  us  to 
study  carefully  the  sociological  conditions  before  we  draw  rash 
conclusions?  May  not  divorce  be  simply  the  recognized  and  legal 
expression  of  sin  that  has  been  recognized  in  all  history?  "  In 
answer  to  this,  I  am  inclined  to  question  the  first  premise.  Im- 
purity may  be  more  flagrant  in  the  Latin  countries.  I  am  not  sure 
that  it  is  more  prevalent.  With  the  aping  of  foreign  manners  and 
•customs  has  come,  conspicuously  in  people  prominent  in  so- 
ciety, but  extensively  also  -where  it  is  not  so  much  known  and 
seen,  an  adoption  of  foreign  morals.  In  the  next  place,  I  am 
quite  sure  that  the  cause  of  whatever  difference  there  may  be  is 
racial  and  climatic,  and  not  due  to  anything  connected  with  di- 
vorce. Roman  Catholic  Ireland,  with  divorce  impossible,  is  con- 
spicuous for  the  chastity  of  its  women.  But  above  all,  let  us  be- 
ware of  attempting  to  cure  one  sin  by  another.  The  proposal 
savors  of  the  Hahnemann  method,  curing  "  like  with  like,"  a  sort 
of  ecclesiastical  or  moral  homeopathy,  of  which  I  am  afraid. 
Speaking  legally  and  civilly,  it  seems  monstrous  to  me  that  the 
Legislature  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts  has  wiped  out  the  time- 
honored  distinction  between  separation  from  bed  and  board  and 
the  dissolution  of  the  bond  of  marriage.  So  that  any  man  or 
any  woman  appealing  for  necessary  relief  from  insufferable  con- 
ditions, to  the  Courts  of  that  State,  is  forced,  on  the  ground  of 
drunkenness,  or  cruelty,  or  desertion,  or  the  like,  to  ask  for  a 
dissolution  of  the  marriage  bond;  and  the  result  is  that  one  di- 
vorce is  granted  to  every  fifteen  marriages  in  the  old  colony 
founded  by  Bible-loving  Puritans  on  the  Plymouth  Rock  and  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers. 

And  lastly,  the  ipso  facto  difficulty.  It  is  claimed  that  un- 
faithfulness dissolves  the  bond  of  marriage.  But  this  means 
either  that  divorce  is  needless,  except  as  a  declaration  of  the  ex- 
isting condition,  or  it  means  that  marriage  is  merely  the  mating 
of  animals.  And  it  means  also,  if  it  is  logically  pushed  to  its  own 
conclusion,  that  the  guilty  party,  who  is  much  more  likely  to 
need  and  to  seek  remarriage,  is  equally  free  with  the  innocent 
party. 

We  have  to  deal  in  our  own  communion  definitely  with  onlv 
three  propositions  that  are  taken,  all  of  which  agree  entirely  with 
one  thing,  namely,  that  there  can  be  no  possible  permission  of 
remarriage  after  divorce,  except  in  one  instance.  They  repre- 
sent three  distinct  shades  of  thought  and  conviction;  first,  that 
there  can  be  no  remarriage  after  divorce  for  any  cause  arising 
after  the  marriage  during  the  life-time  of  the  other  party; 
secondly,  of  those  who  so  far  doubt  the  legality  that  they  dare 
not  give  such  a  marriage  the  sanction  of  the  Church,  and  yet  so 
far  admit  the  possibility  of  the  intention  of  our  Lord's  words  as 
to  fornication  as  to  be  unable  positively  to  declare  its  illegality; 
and  thirdly,  of  those  who  are  so  clear  as  to  the  exception  as 


BISHOP  OF  ALBANY.  Ill 

divinely  allowed,  that  they  think  it  warrants  the  giving  of  the 
sanction  and  of  the  Sacraments  of  the  Chi;rch  in  the  case  of  this 
one  marriage.  It  is,  I  believe,  the  opinion  of  a  very  large  ma- 
jority of  our  own  bishops  that  any  remarriage  after  divorce  is 
so  far  doiibtfvil  that  the  Church  cannot  give  it  the  sanction  of 
allowing  her  clergy  to  solemnize  it,  while  the  rightful  remar- 
riage of  the  man  whose  wife  is  an  adulteress  is  so  far  possible  that 
she  dare  not  refuse  to  admit  to  the  Sacraments  this  person  thus 
remarried.  And  the  argument  for  this  position  runs  so.  I  may  be 
permitted  without  presumption  to  state  the  grounds  familiar  to 
the  bishops  who  are  here,  even  though  there  be  some  among  us 
whom  Mr.  Keble  describes  as  "  wishing  to  live  and  die  dutiful 
children  of  the  Church  of  England,  who  believe,  nevertheless,  that 
they  see  in  Holy  Scripture  all  but  a  direct  contradiction  of  the 
proof  of  her  doctrine  and  discipline  of  marriage,  namely,  that 
marriage,  once  really  contracted,  is  indissoluble  by  man."  There 
are  two  undisputed  and  indisputable  facts,  I  think,  namely,  that 
during  two  great  and  important  periods  in  Church  history  the 
law  and  the  use  about  remarriage  are  positive  and  clear.  ^  In  Mr. 
Keble's  sequel  to  his  argument  that  the  nuptial  bond  is  indis- 
sohible,  and  that  divorce  with  remarriage  was  unknown  in 
Christendom  for  three  hundred  years,  he  has  fairly  proved  that 
there  was  almost  a  consensus  patrum  until  a.  d.  314  to  the  abso- 
lute indissolubility  of  marriage.  And  the  first  departure  is  at 
that  marked  and  momentous  period  in  Christian  history  of  which 
I  said  some  time  ago  that  it  might  be  variously  described  as  the 
time  when  Constantine  became  Christianized  or  when  Chris- 
tianity became  Constantinized.  Wliat  are  called  the  "  Divine  In- 
stitutions "  of  Lactantius,  the  tutor  to  Constantine's  son,  started 
by  the  statement  that  the  tie  of  the  marriage  covenant  may  never 
be  undone  except  when  it  is  broken  by  faithlessness,  and  again, 
that  he  is  an  adulterer  who,  except  for  the  cause  of  adultery,  has 
dismissed  his  wife  to  marry  another.  Within  seven  years  from  this 
Constantine  promulgated  his  law  of  divorce,  which  was  a  civil 
and  not  an  ecclesiastical  rescript,  under  the  counsel  of  bishops 
who  were  either  Arians  or  indifferentists,  including  four  other 
grounds,  "'  murder,  sorcery,  the  violation  of  graves,  and  pandering 
to  unchastity  in  others."  The  second  undisputed  fact  is  that 
following  the  course  of  her  bishops  in  the  Council  of  Aries,  from 
the  Norman  Conquest  through  the  Eeformation,  the  Church  of 
England,  and  until  fifty  years  ago  the  State  of  England,  never 
recognized  divorce  with  the  right  of  remarriage  until  forty  years 
ago.  Between  these  two  points,  the  primitive  and  the  Anglican, 
what  occurs?  In  the  East,  Erastianism,  going  from  bad  to 
worse,  allowed  from  one  to  four,  from  four  to  sixteen  causes  of 
divorce.  And  in  the  West,  the  Roman  Church  upheld  nobly  and 
boldly  the  sanctity  of  marriage,  although,  by  the  application  of 
annulments  and  papal  dispensations,  she  largely  destroyed  the 
practical   value   of  her   Catholic   profession,  because   the   law  is 


112  THE  OBLIGATION  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

elastic,  inclusive,  and  uncertain,  since  it  includes  prohibitions 
which  made  marriages  unlawful  from  the  first  on  grounds  often 
unknown  to  the  contracting  parties. 

The  Bishop  of  Bristol  makes  this  statement :  "  The  artificial 
barriers  to  marriage  which  needed  the  Papal  dispensation  were 
so  numerous  and  so  complicated  that  the  lawyers  must  have  been 
dull  who  could  not  find  some  excuse  for  getting  the  marriage  de- 
clared void  because  of  the  absence  of  dispensation.  A  person  once 
a  Roman  Catholic  has  put  the  matter  flippantly,  but  not  untruly: 
'  The  emperors  and  kings  and  dukes  kept  an  Italian  conjuror  to 
turn  wrong  into  right.  The  conjuror  could  legalize  illegal  mar- 
riages, and  if  they  turned  out  ill  he  could  unmake  them.  The 
King  of  England  had  always  paid  his  share  of  the  conjuror's 
maintenance.' "  I  am  always  glad  to  remember  that  while  not 
using  Roman  terminology  as  to  the  number  of  Sacraments,  this 
Church  does  not  deny  the  sacramental  character  of  marriage. 

In  dealing  with  this  question  from  the  Scriptural  point  of 
view,  I  very  strongly  object  to  the  position  which  is  sometimes 
taken,  and  which  has  so  high  an  authority  as  Canon  Bright  among 
recent  writers,  that  the  two  passasfes  in  the  Holy  Gospel  accord- 
ing to  St.  Matthew  (the  one  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and 
the  other  in  the  nineteenth  chapter  of  the  Gospel)  ought  to  be 
dealt  with  as  making  the  same  statement.  The  whole  question 
turns  upon  the  right  of  remarriage  after  putting  away.  And 
the  two  statements  which  St.  Matthew  records  deal,  one  merely 
with  the  subject  of  putting  away  without  any  reference  to  re- 
marriage,— "  Wliosoever  shall  put  away  his  wife,  save  for  the 
cause  of  fornication,  causeth  her  to  commit  adultery," — while 
the  other  interjects  the  expression  "  and  shall  marry  another." 
The  fact  to  be  gathered  from  the  first  is  merely  that  our  Lord 
allowed  as  the  sole  cause  of  putting  away  one  cause,  but  it  does 
not  carry  with  it  the  idea  that  the  putting  away  left  either 
party  to  remarry.  I  confess  it  somewhat  gratifies  me  to  find  that 
Canon  Bright  finds  himself  in  this  curious  dilemma  as  the  logical 
result  of  his  opinion,  which  seems  to  me  to  add  the  chief  im- 
probability of  all  to  the  great  improbability  of  our  Lord's  having 
ever  given  any  permission  to  remarry  after  divorce  for  any  cause. 
"  The  adulterous  wife,"  Canon  Bright  says,  "  ceasing  to  be  a  wife, 
is  free  to  marry  again,  and  to  marry  whom  she  will,  but  if  an 
innocent  wife  avails  herself  of  the  law  of  divorce  and  is  released 
from  the  bond  to  her  husband,  she  mav  not  marry  again." 
"  That,"  Dr.  Bright  says,  "  would  be  to  commit  adultery."  This 
seems  to  me  a  combination  of  Scylla  and  Charybdis. 

Passing  from  historical  facts  to  the  Scriptural  study,  we  are 
bound,  I  think,  to  realize  that  there  are  really  only  four  words 
in  one  somewhat  uncertain  passage  on  which  the  theory  rests. 
Without  attempting  to  enter  into  any  elaborate  and  detailed 
study  either  of  text,  of  authenticity,  or  of  interpretation,  and 
entirely  omitting,  as  not  bearing  upon  this  question,  our  Lord's 


BISHOP  OF  ALBANY.  113 

statement  in  the  sixth  chapter  of  St.  Matthew's  Gospel,  there  is 
in  the  nineteenth  chapter  an  allusion  to  the  possibility  of  re- 
marriage after  putting  away. 

I  pass  to  a  brief  summary  of  the  grounds  on  which  I  hold 
the  view  that  by  the  teaching  of  Holy  Scripture  the  marriage 
bond  is  indissoluble,  that  separation  is  permitted  in  one  case 
only,  but  that  no  remarriage  is  possible  under  any  conditions. 
The  question  turns,  of  course,  upon  the  authenticity  "and  meaning 
of  our  Lord's  words  in  the  nineteenth  chapter  of  the  Holy  Gospel 
according  to  St.  Matthew.  Allowing  that  the  words  ought  to 
stand,  and  that  they  mean  what  they  seem  to  mean  in  the  Eng- 
lish version  of  the  passage,  the  deduction  from  them  in  our  pres- 
ent canon  is  based  upon  a  series  of  inferences.  At  best  they 
contain  a  negative  non-prohibition,  which  it  is  proposed  to  turn 
into  a  positive  permission.  They  refer  only  to  the  man  putting 
away  his  wife,  and  are  inferred  to  apply  to  the  woman.  And 
they  use  the  word  Tropveia,  which  is,  to  say  the  least,  probably 
not  the  same  as  fxoix^ia;  the  distinction  between  the  two  sins 
being  expressed  in  the  English  as  well  as  in  the  Greek  by  two 
different  words.  Then  comes  the  question  as  to  whether  our 
Lord  used  these  words,  and  when  He  used  them,  if  He  did,  and 
with  what  intention;  about  which  it  must  be  remembered  that 
in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  as  St.  Matthew  records  it,  there 
is  no  reference  to  remarriage.  The  text  reads  there,  "  Whosoever 
shall  put  away  his  wife,  save  for  the  cause  of  fornication,  causeth 
her  to  commit  adultery."  And  the  words  in  the  Greek  are 
TrapcKTo?  \6yov  Tro/oi/eias,  which  certainly  means  "apart  from," 
*Meaving  to  one  side,"  "not  considering  the  cause."  The  sen- 
tence then  would  mean,  "Whosoever  shall  put  away  his  wife  [I 
am  not  speaking  of  fornication,  which,  if  it  means  uncleanness 
before  marriage,  is  provided  for  by  the  permission  to  annul  the 
marriage,  and  if  it  means  adultery,  is  provided  for  by  the  re- 
quirement to  put  the  adulteress  to  death]  causeth  her  to  commit 
•adultery."  In  the  fuller  statement  that  is  contained  in  the 
nineteenth  chapter  of  the  Gospel  the  expression  is  apparently 
different.  There  is  an  allusion  here  to  the  possibility  of  re- 
marriage after  putting  away.  "Whosoever  shall  put  away  his 
wife,  except  it  be  for  fornication,  and  shall  marry  another,  com- 
mitteth  adultery."  The  words  in  the  commonly  received  Greek 
iext  are  «'  /x^  cVt  -n-opyua.  It  is,  to  say  the  least,  doubtful  if 
our  translators  render  these  words  accurately,  for  h  firj  means 
probably  "  if  not  "  or  "  though  not  "  for  fornication,  which  would  • 
make  this  not  an  exception,  but  an  exemplification  and  illustra- 
iion.  But  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  the  case  is  stronger 
than  this.  The  Eevisers  in  their  note  say,  "Some  ancient 
authorities  read,  as  in  Chapter  V.  32,"  that  is  to  say,  as  in  the 
Sermon  _  on  the  Mount.  So  also  Lachman.  And  the  Syriac 
translation,  the  famous  Complutensian  Edition,  and  such  editors 
of  the  Greek  text   as   Griesbach,   Tregelles,   Tischendorf,   ^klill, 


114  THE  OBLIGATION  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

Burton,  such  commentators  as  Grotius  and  Lucas  Brugensis,  and 
Selden  and,  before  them,  Chrysostom  and  Augustine  omit  the 
el  and  read  m>  which  make  synonymous  and  consistent  our 
Lord's  words  here  and  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 

"Whosoever  shall  put  away  his  wife  [I  am  not  speaking  of 
uncleanness  and  unfaithfulness,  which  are  provided  for  by  another 
law  annidling  or  putting  away]  and  shall  marry  another  com- 
mitteth  adultery."  And  the  words,  probably,  be  they  exception 
or  qualification!  refer  not  to  the  marriage,  but  to  the  putting 
away,  forbidding  divorce;  that  is  to  say,  for  any  but  the  one 
cause,  instead  of  for  the  innumerable  causes  allowed  by  rabbinical 
accretions  and  additions  to  the  law  of  Moses,  but  giving  no  per- 
mission to  remarry.  "Is  it  lawful,"  the  Pharisees  asked,  "to 
put  away  for  any  cause?  "  And  our  Lord  said,  "  No;  only  for  one 
cause — uncleanness  or  unfaithfulness." 

It  is  a  striking  evidence  of  the  direction  in  which  more  careful, 
critical  study  advances  that  the  editors  of  our  Bible  with  Mar- 
ginal Headings  (adopted  by  the  General  Convention)  put  as  a 
substitute  in  the  margin  for  the  ninth  verse  of  the  nineteenth 
chapter,  "Whosoever  shall  put  away  his  wife,  saving  for  the 
cause  of  fornication,  maketh  her  an  adulteress."  And  this  is 
done  on  the  ground  that  out  of  the  five  leading  manuscripts  of 
the  Gospels  two  only  contain  the  passage  clearly  as  it  is  in  our 
Authorized  Version. 

It  is  a  most  weighty  addition  to  this  whole  argument  that  all 
three  Evangelists  record  the  language  of  our  Lord,  as  to  the 
remarriage  of  the  person  put  away  or  divorced,  in  the  same  sweep- 
ing terms, — "Whosoever  marrieth," — not  the  woman  put  away,, 
which  might  mean  the  adulteress,  but  "  a  woman,"  any  woman,. 
"  put  away,"  or,  as  St.  Luke  has  dt,  "  a  woman  put  away  from  a 
husband,"  committeth  adultery.  And  this  being  true,  it  follows, 
that  if  no  man  can  marry  any  woman  put  away  from  any  husband 
without  being  guilty  of  adultery,  it  must  be  because  the  mar- 
riage bond  is  not  dissolved  by  divorce,  because  she  is  still  the 
wife  of  the  husband  who  has  put  her  away.  The  man  cannot 
marry  because  he  has  a  wife,  and  the  woman  cannot  marry  be- 
cause she  has  a  husband. 

I  need  not  remind  you  that  St.  Mark  and  St.  Luke  alike  omit 
all  reference  to  any  exception  to  the  rule.  St.  Luke,  prefacing 
the  unexceptional  statement  with  the  words,  "  It  ds  easier  for 
heaven  and  earth  to  pass  than  one  tittle  of  the  law  to  fail,"  turns 
back  to  another,  and  the  strongest  point  of  all,  namely,  our  Lord's 
statement  of  the  principle  of  marriage  as  a  divine  institution, 
which  St.  Matthew  records  in  full,  in  the  same  chapter  of  his 
Gospel.  The  question  was,  Can  a  man  put  away  his  wife  for  any 
cause?  and  our  Lord's  answer  is  unequivocal.  And  he  answered 
and  said  unto  them :  "  Have  ye  not  read,  that  He  which  made 
them  at  the  beginning,  made  them  male  and  female,  and  said,  for 
this  cause  shall  a  man  leave  father  and  mother,  and  shall  cleave 


BISHOP  OF  ALBANY. 


ll^ 


to  his  wife;  and  thev  twain  shall  be  one  flesh?  Wherefore  they 
are  no  more  twain,  but  one  flesh.  What  therefore  God  has  joined 
together,  let  not  man  put  asunder."  This  can  mean  but  one 
thing,  that  He  who  instituted  the  sacred  bond  in  the  begmnmg^ 
Who  made  it  in  the  very  terms  of  its  institution  mystical,  re- 
affirms the  fundamental  principle  of  it,  monogamy  and  indis- 
solubility, one  man  and  one  woman,  one  flesh;  "what  therefore 
God  has"  joined  together  let  not  man  put  asunder."  The  passages 
must  be  taken  together.  They  relate  and  refer,'  all  of  them,  to 
this  restatement,  reaffirmation,  re-institution,  which  underlies 
the  natural,  the  Mosaic,  the  Christian  institution.  And  we  can 
only  so  avoid,  it  seems  to  me,  the  fault  and  the  failure  of  the 
Pharisees,  who,  "  tempting  Ham,"  here  as  elsewhere,  tried  to 
"entangle  Jesus  in  His  talk."  He  cannot  contradict  Himself. 
Somehow,  any  seeming  contradiction  must  be  explicable.  And 
the  reconciling  words,  by  which  the  exception  which  would  con- 
travene the  principle  of  "marriage,  if  it  were  what  it  seems  to  be, 
may  be  so  understood  as  not  to  break  the  law  of  God;  the  recon- 
ciling words  are  "what  therefore,"  because  they  are  one  flesh, 
"what  therefore  God  has  joined  together  let  not  man  put 
asunder." 

I  do  not  think  that  in  the  ordinary  discussion  of  the  Scriptural 
presentation  of  this  matter  attention  enough  is  called  to  St. 
Paul's  witness,  "And  unto  the  married  I  command,  yet  not  I^ 
but  the  Lord,  Let  not  the  wife  depart  from  her  husband :  But 
and  if  she  depart,  let  her  remain  unmarried,  or  be  reconciled  to 
her  husband;  and  let  not  the  husband  put  away  his  wife  "  (I  Cor. 
vii.  10,  11),  in  which  he  says  distinctly,  "  Not  I,  but  the  Lord." 
And  it  is  as  applicable  to  "what  he  writes  to  the  Eoman  Chris- 
tians as  asserting  a  well-known  Christian  law.  "Know  ye  not, 
brethren  (for  I  speak  to  them  that  know  the  law),  how  that  the 
law  hath  dominion  over  a  man  as  long  as  he  liveth?  For  the 
woman  which  hath  an  husband  is  bound  by  the  law  to  her  hus- 
band as  long  as  he  liveth;  but  if  the  husband  be  dead,  she  is  loosed 
from  the  law  of  her  husband.  So  then  if,  while  her  husband 
liveth,  she  be  married  to  another  man,  she  shall  be  called  an 
adulteress;  but  if  her  husband  be  dead,  she  is 'free  from  the  law; 
so  that  she  is  no  adulteress  though  she  be  married  to  another 
man"  (Eom.  vii.  1,  2,  3).  So  that  these  two  utterances,  both 
unmistakable  in  their  meaning,  are  not  Pauline  canons,  but  re- 
statements and  revelations  to  St.  Paul  by  our  Lord  Himself, 
which  had  passed  at  that  time  into  a  well-known  law  of  the 
Church,  to  which  the  apostle  could  appeal  for  the  truth  that  only 
death  dissolves  the  marriage  bond. 

The  appeal  to  the  Church  on  the  ground  that  she  is  the  eccle- 
sia  docens  to  decide  this  question,  to  teach  the  truth  positively, 
peremptorily,  and  without  a  qualification,  is  asking  this  American 
branch  of  the  Church  to  do  what  she  has  no  warrant  to  do,  what 
no  general  council  of  the  Church  has  finally  settled,  and  what 


116  THE  OBLIGATION  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

no  uniform  consent  of  her  members  during  these  nineteen  cen- 
turies has  been  able  to  accomplish.  Her  mission,  therefore,  is 
to  teach  what  she  can  most  surely  find  established  by  the  strong- 
est warrant  of  authority;  and  if  I  can  read  rightly  the  collected 
teachings  of  the  centuries,  it  must  be  this :  that  any  remarriage 
after  divorce  is  so  far  doubtful  that  she  cannot  give  it  the  sanc- 
tion of  allowing  her  clergy  to  solemnize  it;  that  the  rightful 
remarriage  of  the  man  whose  wife  is  an  adulteress  is  so  far  pos- 
sible that  she  dare  not  refuse  to  admit  this  person,  remarried,  to 
the  Sacraments. 

And  the  sum  of  what  I  have  said  I  desire  to  put  in  plain  and 
simple  language,  that  all  may  know  at  any  rate  the  outlying 
points  of  the  argument.  I  group  it  under  heads  of  several  sep- 
arate facts. 

First,  that  the  marriage  relation,  being  at  the  foundation  of 
the  family,  which  is  the  foundation  of  the  State,  is  a  funda- 
Tnental  principle  of  all  civilized  and  national  life. 

Secondly,  that  the  alarming  increase  of  divorce  has  become  a 
serious  threat  to  morality,  decency,  social  stability,  in  this  coun- 
try and  this  age. 

Thirdly,  that  the  Canon  Law  of  this  Church  to-day  sets  a 
higher  standard  than  is  set  by  the  civil  law  of  the  States,  or  by 
the  canon  of  any  religious  l>ody,  except  the  Church  of  England 
and  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  America. 

Fourthly,  that,  .judged  either  by  its  effect  or  by  the  authority 
on  which  it  rests,  it  is  not  stringent  enough. 

Fifthly,  that  there  is  absolute  agreement  in  this  Church  upon 
the  one  fact,  namely,  that  divorce  with  remarriage  can  be  pos- 
sibly tolerated  only  in  the  one  instance  of  what  is  called  the  in- 
nocent party  in  a  divorce  suit  for  adultery. 

Sixthly,  that  it  is  impossible  for  anyone  to  affirm  that  the 
language  in  the  nineteenth  chapter  of  the  Gospel  according  to 
St.  Matthew,  on  which  this  sole  exception  is  grounded,  is  ab- 
solutely certain  either  in  its  authoritv  or  in  its  interpreta- 
tion. 

Seventhl}',  that  this  record  is  not  only  different  from,  but  ab- 
solutely at  variance  with,  other  statements  of  our  Lord  upon  this 
same  subject,  as  recorded  in  the  other  Evangelists,  especially  with 
■our  Lord's  acceptance  of  the  original  law  of  this  primeval  insti- 
tution, namely,  that  "  they  twain  are  one  flesh  "  and  that  "  man 
may  not  put  asunder  what  God  has  joined  together." 

Eighthly,  that  St.  Paul's  statement  in  both  the  Epistle  to  the 
Corinthians  and  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  clearly  shows  the  po- 
sition of  the  Apostolic  Church  and  his  own  definite  teaching 
from  our  Lord  Himself,  that  only  death  dissolves  the  marriage 
bond. 

Ninthly,  that  for  the  first  three  hundred  years  of  the  Primitive 
Church  no  such  thing  was  known  as  remarriage  after  divorce. 
Tenthly,  that  the  Church  of  England,  from  the  time  of  the 


BISHOP  OF  ALBANY.  117 

Norman  Conquest  to  the  present  day,  forbids  such  remarriages 
by  her  Canon  Law. 

Eleventhly,  that  the  whole  spirit  of  the  marriage  service  of 
this  Church  maintains  the  indissoluble  sanctity  of  the  marriage 
bond. 

Twelfthly,  that  to  call  this  a  hardship  does  not  prove  that  it 
is  not  right;  and  it  is  no  greater  hardship  than  the  necessary 
prohibition  of  divorce  with  right  to  remarry,  for  insanity,  or 
life-long  imprisonment. 

And  lastly,  that  where  there  is  any  least  doubt  upon  a  question 
of  this  importance,  moral,  religious,  and  social,  the  act  of 
mercy  is  to  safeguard  the  sanctity  of  marriage  against  any  pos- 
sible desecration,  to  keep  man  or  woman  from  the  possibility  of 
the  sin  of  a  marriage  otherwise  than  as  God's  Word  doth  allow, 
and  to  leave  the  door  open  for  penitence,  even  after  this  gravest 
sin,  to  find  pardon  and  restoration. 

I  am  quite  free  to  recognize  that  the  American  branch  of  the 
Church  cannot  do  what  she  has  no  warrant  to  do,  maintain  as 
absolute  and  positively  certain  either  view  of  the  Scriptural  ut- 
terances as  to  the  possible  legalness  of  remarriage  after  divorce; 
but  she  can,  and  I  think  she  ought  to,  teach  that  there  is  such 
absolute  and  positive  uncertainty  as  to  the  interpretation  and 
meaning  of  this  single  passage,  that  she  cannot  sanction  or  al- 
low her  clergy  to  solemnize  the  marriage,  while  she  will  not  re- 
fuse to  admit  the  person,  remarried  after  divorce  for  the  one 
cause,  by  magistrates  or  other  ministers,  to  the  Sacraments. 

The  State  has  an  undoubted  right  to  declare  that  the  civil 
contract  of  marriage  can  be  canceled  by  the  State.  The  Church 
has  no  power  to  dissolve  the  marriage  bond.  What  she  cannot 
undo,  she  ought  not  to  be  asked  to  deal  with  as  though  it  was  un- 
done. And  what  the  State  cancels  the  State  ought  to  be  left  to 
deal  with.  For  all  purposes  of  legality,  these  people,  unmarried 
by  the  State,  can  resort  to  the  magistrates  and  secure  a  civil 
contract  of  remarriage,  but  the  Christian  Church  cannot  with 
any  consistency  have  part  or  lot  in  this  transaction. 

Resolutions  on  remarriage  after  divorce  were  presented,  but 
not  moved  for  adoption,  because  the  Conference  directed  that  no 
such  resolutions  should  be  moved  for  adoption  against  the  will  of 
three  bishops. 

Resolved,  That  the  Church's  attitude  toward  the  questions  of 
marriage  and  divorce,  in  order  to  protect  the  institutions  of 
Christian  marriage  and  the  Christian  family,  should  be  a  bold  ut- 
terance of  the  sacred  and  mystical  character  of  marriage  based 
upon  the  primal  revelation  of  its  character  as  re-enacted  by  our 
Lord's  own  words,  no  more  "  twain  but  one  flesh,"  "  what  there- 
fore God  hath  joined  together  let  not  man  put  asunder." 

Resolved,  Tliat  in  the  alarming  prevalence  of  divorce  and  of 
the  remarriage  of  divorced  persons,  the  bishops  assembled  here 


118  THE  OBLIGATION  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

declare  their  conviction  that  while  the  Sacraments  of  the  Church 
shoiild  not  be  denied  to  the  innocent  party  in  a  divorce  for 
adultery  remarried,  the  sanction  of  the  Church  should  not  be 
given  to  any  remarriage  after  divorce  for  any  cause  arising  after 
marriage. 

FRIDAY   MORNING. 

Seventh  Topic. 

THE  OBLIGATION  OF  THE  CHURCH  TO  MAINTAIN  THE 
CHEISTIAN   FAMILY    IN   ITS   INTEGRITY. 

(a)  DIVORCE  AND  UNLAWFUL  MARRIAGE. 

Second  Paper. 
The  Right  Rev.  Arthur  Svv^eatman,  D.  D.,  D.C.L., 

BISHOP  OF  TORONTO. 

We  are  all  agreed  that  the  Christian  family  is  of  divine  insti- 
tution, designed  not  only  for  the  healthful  propagation  of  the 
race,  but  for  the  conserving  and  handing  down  from  each  gen- 
eration to  the  succeeding  the  principles  of  righteousness,  morality, 
and  all  virtues,  especially  for  perpetuating  the  knowledge  and 
worship  of  God  in  the  earth. 

The  relationships  of  the  family  are  of  a  sacred  character,  typ- 
ifying those  which  subsist  among  the  blessed  persons  of  the 
Godhead,  and  which  exist  between  God  and  man  whom  he  has 
created  and  redeemed. 

Family  love,  which  mutually  unites  husband  and  wife,  parents 
and  children,  brother  and  sister,  and  all  to  each,  is  of  a  higher 
kind  than  all  other  earthly  loves,  pure  and  holy,  akin  to  the  divine 
love. 

Each  Christian  family  is  itself  a  Church,  of  which  the  head  is 
the  hereditary  priest,  to  rule,  to  instruct  in  the  knowledge  of 
God,  to  guide  in  His  ways,  and  to  lead  in  His  worship. 

And  upon  the  basis  of  the  family  as  the  imit,  the  whole  Church 
is  built  up. 

Regarding  for  instance  a  Church  in  its  most  strictly  localized 
aspect,  it  is  plain  that  its  character  is  determined  very  largely 
by  that  of  the  families  of  which  it  is  composed.  Anything  that 
serves  to  the  disruption  of  the  family  or  to  defeat  the  purposes 
Avhich  it  is  intended  to  serve  in  the  divine  economy,  is  a  distinct 
loss  and  injury  to  the  Church,  on  the  inevitable  principle  that  if 
one  member  suffer,  all  the  members  suffer  with  it. 

Hence  the  grave  obligation  which  lies  upon  the  Church  in  her 
corporate  capacity  to  maintain  the  institution  in  its  integrity, 
to  legislate  to  this  end  with  watchful  jealousy,  that  the  high  ideal 
for  which  it  stands  be  not  marred  or  destroved. 


BISHOP  OF  TORONTO.  119 

Among  all  the  tendencies  of  the  da}'  whic-h  threaten  to  effect 
this  disastrous  result,  the  most  perilous  is  that  to  make  light  of, 
impair,  set  eside  the  sanctity  of  the  marriage  tie. 

Divorce  and  the  making  of  unlawful  marriages  are  questions 
which  press  themselves  upon  the  consideration  of  the  Church 
with  an  insistenc}'  that  cannot  be  denied. 

Marriage  is  the  very  foundation  on  which  the  Christian  family 
stands,  the  tie  which  binds  all  its  members  together.  Loosen  the 
tie  and  the  members  fall  asunder;  take  away  the  foundation  and 
the  fabric,  so  fair,  so  peaceful,  standing  for  a  witness  of  God's 
design  for  all  that  makes  for  human  happiness  and  goodness,  is 
hopelessly  shattered. 

When  requested  to  prepare  a  paper  on  this  subject  for  this 
august  Conference,  I  did  not  feel  called  upon  to  attempt  afresh 
the  discussion  of  it  upon  its  merits.  The  whole  ground  has  been 
traversed  again  and  again.  All  has  been  said  that  can  be  said. 
Every  argument  from  both  Testaments  has  been  thoroughly  dis- 
cussed, the  whole  range  of  Patristic  writings  minutely  searched 
for  evidence,  and  the  opinions  of  the  Fathers  extending  over  three 
hundred  and  fifty  years  marshaled  on  either  side  of  the  case 
the  Canon  Law  of  the  Church  bearing  upon  the  question,  as 
adopted  by  the  councils  extending  from  the  Apostolic  Canons  in 
the  second  century  to  the  Council  of  Eouen  in  1072,  has  been  col- 
lated and  tabulated.  One  of  the  most  exhaustive  of  these  discus- 
sions, the  report  to  the  Lower  House  of  the  Convocation  of  York, 
the  resolutions  presented  with  which  were  adopted  on  June  14, 
1896,  is  well  known  to  you  all. 

That  the  difficulties  of  the  question  are  as  great  as  its  pressing 
importance  is  apparent  from  the  fact  that,  with  precisely  the 
same  data,  on  which  to  form  an  opinion,  some  of  the  most 
learned  of  our  theologians,  men  with  minds  trained  to  weigh  evi- 
dence, men  of  the  devoutest  spirit,  have  arrived  at  directly  oppo- 
site conclusions,  that,  as  a  most  conspicuous  instance,  the  two 
friends  Keblc  and  Pusey  take  different  sides.  With  regard  to  the 
perpetual  obligation  of  the  marriage  bond,  I  suppose  that  the 
plain  teaching  of  the  Church  in  the  ^larriage  Service,  that  it  is 
indissoluble  except  by  death  would  never  have  been  questioned 
as  the  law  of  Christ,  but  for  the  doubtful  and  apparently  corrupt 
text  of  St.  ]\Iatt.  xix.  9,  and  the  various  interpretations  which 
ingenuity  can  put  upon  it.  Separation  would  not  have  been 
construed  into  the  annulling  of  the  bond;  divorce  a  tlioro 
et  niensa  would  not  have  been  extended  to  divorce  a  vinculo  matri- 
monii. 

The  other  great  controversy  as  to  the  prohibited  affinities  is 
also  chiefly  due  to  the  English  rendering  of  the  obscure  passage 
Lev.  xviii.  18.  The  weight  of  Hebrew  explanation  seems  to  be 
against  the  exception  claimed  to  be  therein  permitted  and  to  in- 
dicate the  finality  of  our  Lord's  declaration  that,  by  marriage, 
man  and  wife  become  no  longer  twain  but  one  flesh,  so  that  the 


J20  THE  OBLIGATION  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

blood  relations  of  the  one  are  henceforth  the  blood  relations  of 

the  other.  .  j.  • 

It  is  the  alarming  and  increasing  frequency  of  marriages  con- 
tracted bv  divorced  persons  during  the  life  of  the  other  party, 
and  between  a  man  and  his  deceased  wife's  sister,  which  calls  for 
some  authoritative  pronouncement  from  the  rulers  of  the  Church, 
and  some  direct  instruction  for  the  government  of  the  clergy. 

In  essay  in  £r  such  a  duty,  w-e  are  of  course  confronted  with  the 
difficultv'that  the  civil  law  undertakes  to  legislate  on  these 
matters  and  to  legislate  not  only  in  independence,  but  m  viola- 
tion of  the  law  of  the  Church.  It  does  not,  it  is  true,  oblige  a. 
priest  to  act  in  disobedience  to  the  Church.  No  clergyman  is 
compelled  bv  the  presentment  of  a  license  to  marry  a  divorced 
person  or  a  widower  to  his  sister-in-law;  but  so  long  as  such 
unions  have  legal  sanction,  the  clergy  refusing  to  be  parties  to 
them  are  in  a  position  of  great  ditficulty;  and  as  the  unions  will 
take  place  notwithstanding,  nothing  will  be  effected  towards  the 
abatement  of  the  evil.  The  duty  of  the  Church  is  undoubtedly 
to  endeavor  to  bring  some  pressure  upon  the  conscience  of  our 
national  legislatures  to  restrain  the  wholesale  licensing  of  acts 
that  are  contrarv  to  the  laws  of  God  and  of  morality,  though 
it  is  not  probable  that  any  protest  would  be  effectual  that  was  not 
supported  by  the  strong  concurrence  of  the  whole  Christian  sense 
of  the  land. 

I  conceive  that  I  may  best  serve  the  object  for  which  this 
Conference  is  invited,  by  reciting  the  steps  which  have  been 
taken  to  meet  the  evils  of  divorce  and  unlawful  marriage  by  the 
Church  in  Canada,  and  explaining  the  present  state  of  the  law 
in  that  country  on  these  two  matters. 

The  first  action  taken  in  this  direction  by  the  Provincial 
Synod  of  Canada  (which  it  may  be  explained  comprises  the 
Civil  Provinces  of  Ontario,  Quebec,  Nova  Scotia,  New  Bruns- 
wick, and  Prince  Edward  Island)  was  called  forth  by  the  pro- 
posal in  the  Dominion  Parliament  of  an  Act  legalizing  marriage 
with  a  deceased  wife's  sister. 

This  was  at  the  session  of  1880.  The  House  of  Bishops  sent 
down  to  the  Lower  House  a  Canon  adopting  the  Table  of  Degrees 
prohibiting  certain  marriages  set  forth  by  authority  in  1563  and 
pro\-iding  "  No  Clergyman  of  this  Ecclesiastical  Province  shall 
knowingly  solemnize  a  marriage  within  the  degrees  prohibited 
by  such  a  table." 

This  Canon  was  adopted  by  the  Synod,  and  re-enacted  twelve 
years  afterwards.  It  was  last  year  extended  to  apply  to  the  whole 
Church  of  England  in  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  on  being  passed 
at  the  third  session  of  the  General  Synod  as  Canon  III.  It  is  the 
only  enactment  on  the  subjects  under  consideration  that  sppears 
on  our  Ecclesiastical  Statute  Books. 

Notwithstanding  petitions  to  both  Houses  of  the  Legislature 
presented  from  the  Provincial  Synod  and  most  of  the  dioceses  and 


BISHOP  OF  TORONTO.  121 

bishops,  and  further  steps  taken  by  a  conmiittee  specially  ap- 
pointed for  the  purpose,  to  resist  such  legislation,  the  bill  to 
legalize  marriage  with  a  deceased  wife's  sister  was  passed  and  as- 
sented to  in  May,  1883,  and  remains  the  law  of  the  land. 

The  case  of  the  marriage  of  divorced  persons  has  proved  more 
difficult  to  deal  with.  In  1889  a  Canon  was  submitted  to  the 
Provincial  Synod,  that  "  No  Clergyman  of  this  Ecclesiastical 
Province  shall  solemnize  marriage  in  any  case  where  there  is  a  di- 
vorced wife  or  husband  of  either  party  still  living." 

An  amendment  was  proposed,  "  Provided  always  that  this 
shall  not  extend  or  apply  to  the  innocent  party  in  any  divorce 
suit,  when  a  divorce  a  vinculo  matrimoyiii  is  decreed." 

After  a  long  discussion  this  amendment  was  withdrawn,  and 
the  whole  question  of  marriage  and  divorce  referred  to  a  joint 
committee  to  report  at  the  next  session  in  1892. 

The  report  presented  accordingly  was  drawn  up  by  the  Bishop 
of  Fredericton.  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee,  and  was  a  most 
valuable  contribution  to  the  literature  of  the  subject,  its  con- 
clusions being  presented  in  the  following  order: 

I.  The  authority  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

II.  The  Canon  Law  of  England. 

III.  The  Canon  Law  of  other  Churches, 
(a)   In  communion  Avith  this  Church. 

(&)   Not  in  communion  with  the  Church  of  England. 

IV.  The  opinions  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Church. 

V.  The  opinion  of  the  Lambeth  Conference. 

The  Canon  accompanying  the  report  added  to  the  previously 
proposed  clauses,  (1)  forbidding  Holy  Communion  (unless  at  the 
point  of  death)  to  a  person  marrying  after  divorce  for  any  other 
cause  than  adultery  (except  an  antecedent  impediment  nullify- 
ing the  marriage  contract),  and  (2)  to  a  person  divorced  for 
adultery  and  marrying  again,  contrary  to  this  Canon,  during  the 
lifetime  of  the  other  party;  and  (3)  allowing  Holy  Communion 
to  the  so-called  innocent  party,  wath  the  express  sanction  of  the 
bishop. 

A  minority  report  was  presented  by  Archdeacon  Eoe  of  Quebec, 
justifying  the  remarriage  of  the  innocent  party,  accompanied  with 
a  pamphlet  exhaustively  discussing  the  testimony  of  the  Fathers 
and  Councils  of  the  Cliurch  and  relying  upon  the  distinction  be- 
tween fornication  and  adultery  in  our  Lord's  pronouncement. 

The  consideration  of  the  report  was  postponed  to  the  next 
session  of  the  Svnod  in  189.5,  when  it  was  referred  to  the  General 
Synod  meeting  in  the  following  year. 

That  body  referred  both  Report  and  Minority  Report  to  the 
Committee  on  Doctrine  and  Discipline.  Meanwhile  the  House 
of  Bishops  resolved  to  send  the  questions  to  the  Archbishop  of" 
Canterbury,  with  a  request  that  they  might  be  referred  to  a 
Committee  of  the  Lambeth  Conference  to  be  held  in  the  next 
year,  and  that  they  might  receive  an  answer  from  the  said  con- 


122  THE  OBLIGATION  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

ference.    As  you  are  aware,  the  Lambeth  Conference  of  1897  did 
not  deal  with  this  subject.  -,     ^   , 

In  the  Provincial  Synod  of  1898,  the  House  of  Bishops  adopted 
a  resolution,  '•'  That  the  marriage  of  a  divorced  person  during 
the  life  of  the  other  party  is  entirely  to  be  deprecated,  and  that 
the  clergy  of  this  province  should  not  perform  such  a  marriage." 
I  believe'  that  my  Eight  Eeverend  Brethren  in  Canada  regard 
this  resolution  as  I  do,  as  still  regulating  the  action  of  our 
clergv  on  this  subject. 

Here  the  matter  rests  at  present.  Considerable  discussion, 
with  resolutions  and  amendments,  at  the  last  Synod  of  1901  re- 
sulted in  reference  to  the  impending  General  Synod.  At  that 
Synod,  in  1902,  all  resolutions  on  the  subject  were  lost. 

"The  briefest  statement  of  the  Civil  Law  of  Canada  with  re- 
gard to  divorce  will  be  sufficient. 

In  the  Provinces  of  Nova  Scotia,  New  Brunswick,  Prince  Ed- 
ward Island,  and  British  Columbia,  divorce  courts  are  established. 
For  the  rest  of  the  Dominion,  divorce  cases  are  adjudged  upon  by 
the  Senate  and  an  Act  of  Parliament  passed  for  the  relief  of 
■each  successful  suitor.  The  Act  is  of  stereotyped  form,  and,  after 
the  preamble,  consists  of  two  short  clauses,  the  first  annulling  the 
marriage,  the  second  giving  the  right  to  the  suitor  to  marry  again, 
as  though  the  first  marriage  had  not  taken  place.  The  grounds 
for  divorce  are  adultery  and  impotence  alone  (of  course  some- 
times coupled  with  desertion  or  cruelty)  in  Canada;  consan- 
guinity being  added  in  the  Maritime  Provinces. 

Divorces  granted  to  Canadians  in  the  United  States  who  have 
gone  there  for  that  purpose  are  void,  and  parties  entering  into 
fresh  unions  on  the  strength  of  them  will  be  prosecuted  for 
bigamy. 

The  number  of  divorces  granted  in  twenty-one  years,  from  1867 
to  1888  was: 

Ontario  and  Quebec 26 

New  Brunswick   , 42 

Nova  Scotia    52 

Prince  Edward  Island 2 

British  Columbia   15 

During  the  last  twelve  years  the  number  of  Acts  obtained 
from  the  Dominion  Parliament  was  forty-two,  or  an  average  of 
three  and  one-half  divorces  per  annum:  in  twenty-seven  cases 
the  husband  being  the  suitor,  and  in  fifteen  the  wife. 

The  small  number  of  divorces  thus  obtained  in  Canada  must 
be  explained  by  the  restriction  of  the  ground  allowed  to  proved 
adultery  and  by  the  almost  prohibitive  cost  of  the  proceedings, 
$1200. ' 

There  is  no  means  of  estimating  the  number  of  Canadians  who 
go  across  the  border  to  obtain  an  easy  and  cheap  release  from 
their  matrimonial  bonds. 

It  is  the  earnest  desire  of  the  Church  in  Canada  that  her  sister 


BISHOP  OF  MISSOURI.  123 

jii  the  United  States  may  be  able  to  find  some  remedy  whereby  to 
■check  the  ungodly  system  which  is  wrecking  the  happiness  of  so 
many  Canadian  homes. 

But  if  anything  is  to  be  attempted  by  us  of  a  practical  na- 
ture, to  safeguard  the  integrity  of  the  Christian  home  from  the 
increasing  peril  of  divorce,  I  submit  that  we  should  begin  with 
the  root  of  the  evil — hasty  and  ill-considered  alliances  repented 
of  at  leisure,  marriages  contracted  from  lower  and  baser  mo- 
tives— and  be  more  plain-spoken,  more  instant,  in  instructing 
our  people  in  the  meaning  and  nature  of  this  bond — that  it  is 
Holy  Matrimony,  not  to  be  enterprised,  nor  taken  in  hand  unad- 
visedly, lightly,  or  wantonly,  to  satisfy  men's  carnal  lusts  and  ap- 
7)etites,  like  brute  beasts,  but  reverently,  discreetly,  advisedly, 
soberly,  and  in  the  fear  of  God,  duly  considering  the  causes  for 
which  it  was  ordained. 


FRIDAY  AFTERNOON. 

Seventh  Topic. 

THE  OBLIGATION  OF  THE  CHURCH  TO  MAINTAIN  THE 
CHRISTIAN   FAMILY   IN    ITS    INTEGRITY. 

<b)   THE  DISCHARGE  OF  THE  PARENTAL  OBLIGATION. 

First  Paper. 

The  Right  Rev.  Daniel  Sylvester  Tuttle,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

BISHOP  OF  MISSOURI. 

Scrutiny  of  human  life  discloses  the  three  great  institutions 
set  by  Almighty  God  to  guide  and  help  man:  the  Family,  the  State, 
the  Church.  All  three  are  of  divine  appointment.  The  Family 
appears  first  in  the  gray  dawn  of  the  world's  morning,  at  the 
outset  of  human  history.  No  less  can  be  said  than  that  it  is  the 
unit  of  the  human  race,  and  under  God,  the  source  of  human  life 
^nd  the  warrant  for  human  authority  and  law.  In  the  beginning 
the  State  and  the  Church  existed  in  it  in  embryo.  The  State, 
that  is  Civil  Government,  was  at  first  patriarchal,  if  theocratic, 
•and  ever  since  potencies  and  prerogatives  of  the  patriarchal  per- 
meated it,  whatever  its  forms  of  theocracy,  monarchy,  oligarchy, 
or  democracy.  In  the  beginning  also,  the  Church,  that  is  the  in- 
stitution dealing  with  spiritual  truth  and  religious  duty,  was 
patriarchal,  and  in  the  two  forms  into  which  it  has  since  been 
transmuted,  or  rather  developed  and  enlarged,  the  Jewish  and 
the  Christian,  it  has  retained  much  of  the  patriarchal  element,  be- 
-speaking  the  rock  whence  it  was  hewn  and  the  hole  of  the  pit 
-whence  it  was  digged. 

One  must  expect  the  interrelations  of  the  three  divine  institu- 


124  THE  OBLIGATION  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


tions  to  be  close  and  deep.  It  is  no  traveling  out  of  limits  for 
the  Church  to  be  called  upon  to  stand  by  the  family,  and  the 
family,  the  Church.  There  is  obligation  resting  on  the  Church  to 
do  its  part  in  helping  to  maintain  the  integrity  of  the  Christian 
family,  and  there  is  equal  obligation  on  the  heads  of  the  family 
to  feel  and  act  and  live  by  their  sense  of  the  responsibility  of 
parental  authority. 

If  there  be  two  corner  stones  to  the  integrity  of  the  family,  and 
conjugal  fidelity  be  the  first  one,  certainly  parental  authority  is 
the  second.  Abdication  of  that  authority  entails  serious  and  sad 
results.  Phaethon  got  hold  of  the  reins  of  his  father  Phoebus  to 
drive  the  chariot  of  the  sun  for  one  day.  He  would  have 
whelmed  earth  and  sun  and  universe  in  one  chaos  of  ruin,  had 
not  Jupiter  shot  him  dead  with  a  quick  thunderbolt.  Many  are 
the  Phaethons  of  modem  life,  and  not  confined  to  the  one  sex 
either,  who  take  the  reins  of  authority  out  from  the  hands  of 
ignorant  or  weak  or  overworked  or  unthoughtful  or  unfaithful 
parents;  and  collisions  and  catastrophes  ensue,  though,  unlike 
those^in  the  fable,  too  sadly  true  and  real.  It  is  to  be  feared  that 
the  United  States,  more  than  any  other  civilized  nation,  presents 
instances  of  such  lamentable  usurpation. 

Eli  was  faithful  as  a  prophet  and  upright  as  a  judge,  zealous^ 
devout,  godly,  but  Hophni  and  Phineas,  his  sons,  were  un- 
worthy, selfish,  insolent  young  men,  though  priests.  The  Lord 
God  Jehovah  called  him  accountable  for  their  unworthiness,  and 
to  him  the  solemn,  divine  reproof  and  the  incurred  penalty  were 
promised.  The  visiting  of  the  sins  of  the  fathers  upon  the  chil- 
dren IS  proclaimed  in  one  of  the  Ten  Commandments.  The  visit- 
ing of  the  sins  of  the  children  upon  the  fathers  was  embodied  in 
Jewish  institutions,  and  confirmed  in  the  Christian  Church. 
St.  Paul  says  expressly  that  the  bishop  or  elder  must  be  "  one  that 
ruleth  well  his  own  house,  having  his  children  in  subjection  with 
all  gravity."  And  one  "having  faithful  children  who  are  not 
accused  of  riot,  or  unruly."  And  of  deacons,  too,  he  says,  they 
must  be  those  "  ruling  their  children  and  their  houses  well."  So 
abdication  of  parental  authority  was  to  be  accounted  not  merely  a 
weakness  to  be  lamented,  but  also  a  fault  to  be  punished.  Into 
the  home  and  out  from  the  home  flow  pre-eminently  the  sweet 
and  strong  things  of  human  life.  If  the  sweetness  is  engendered 
of  conjugal  and  parental  love,  the  strength  is  largely  supplied  bv 
parental  authority.  When  the  latter  is  wanting  the  home  is  un- 
dermined and  subverted,  .and  forces  intended  to  be  trained  for 
the  good  of  society  grow  to  be  its  destructive  foes.  Family  dis- 
cipline need  not  work  the  suppression  of  individuality.  There  is 
no  call  for  that,  but  it  may  guide  and  mold  youthful  energies 
along  the  line  of  help  and  not  of  hurt  in  an  existence  where  help- 
ing and  hurting  are  engaged  in  active  and  unceasing  conflict. 
The  sense  of  personal  responsibility  is  a  verv  prop  and  staff  of 
society.     Parental  authority,  so  far  from  deadening  or  weaken- 


BISHOP  OF  MISSOURI.  125 

ing  that  sense,  can  almost  call  it  into  being  and  can  best  pro- 
mote its  growth.  The  power  of  love,  the  sacredness  of  marriage, 
the  restraining  guidance  of  authority  make  the  family  to  be, 
under  God's  providence,  the  great  and  wholesome  influence  for 
evoking  best  and  noblest  things  out  from  the  dust  and  din  of 
human  life.  The  Christian  family  pre-eminently  have  this  well- 
forged  and  fitted  triple  armor  of  protection,  love  and  marriage, 
and  authority.  Perhaps  if  was  a  polygamous  family,  dividing  arid 
shattering  parental  authority,  which  set  the  child  into  a  rebellion 
unto  death  against  the  father,  and  called  out  that  plaint  of  woe 
from  the  depths  of  a  royal  heart,  "  Would  God  that  I  had  died 
for  thee,  0  Absalom,  my  son.  my  son." 

It  needs  no  deep  study  to  discover  how  the  welfare  of  the  State 
depends  on  the  exercise  of  parental  authority.  In  history  the 
family  is  the  first  divine  institution;  and  patriarchal  authority  on 
theocratic  warrant  is  the  first  form  of  civil  government. 

At  times  philosophers  have  tried  to  teach  that  man  by  nature 
is  made  solitary;  that  there  was  a  time  when  there  was  no  so- 
ciety, but  men  were  in  a  state  of  nature.  Then  they  came  vol- 
untarily together  and  by  contract  they  constituted  society;  and 
under  this  social  contact  they  each  renounced  a  portion  of 
their  individual  rights,  as  the  price  to  society  for  the  securing  of 
the  others.  But  with  us  of  the  present,  theories  do  not  count. 
Facts  are  demanded.  Who  in  running  back  the  history  of  any 
nation  has  ever  found  it  resolving  itself  into  a  state  of  nature 
consisting  of  an  aggregate  of  individual,  disconnected  units,  ex- 
ercising original  independent  personal  rights?  There  are  al- 
ways found,  last,  first,  and  all  the  time,  parental  authority, 
tribal  chieftainship,  religious  order.  So  there  is  fairness,  there  is 
wisdom,  and  there  is  weight  in  the  Church  Catechism  when  it 
puts  the  Fifth  Commandment  to  be  the  ground  of  civil  authority 
and  indeed  of  all  authority.  "  Love,  honor  and  succor  thy  father 
and  mother."'  There  is  home  love,  home  peace,  home  duty,  home 
reward.  "  Honor  and  obe}^  the  civil  authority."  There  is  good 
citizenship.  "  Submit  thyself  to  all  thy  governors,  teachers, 
spiritual  pastors,  and  masters."  There  is  the  whole  oneness  of 
discipleship  and  discipline.  "  Order  thyself  lowly  and  rever- 
ently to  all  thy  betters."  There  are  good  manners:  and  good 
manners  and  good  morals  are  sisterly  things.  Order  is  Heaven's 
first  law.  It  may  well  be  earth's  greatest  need.  There  is  a 
rightful  exercise  of  authority  by  one  man  over  another  and  a 
rightful  subordination  of  one  man  to  another  in  the  field  of  that 
rightful  exercise.  "  The  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God." 
Divine  sanction  inheres  in  civil  government.  Liberty  is  a  glo- 
rious word — the  liberty  wTierewith  Christ  makes  us  free  in  the 
covenant  of  purchased  redemption,  and  the  grace  of  abounding 
love.  Equality  falls  on  the  ear  with  a  satisfaction  that  is  world- 
wide. Equality  before  God  who  is  "  no  respector  of  persons." 
but   in    every   nation   he   that   feareth    Him   and   worketh    His 


J26  THE  OBLIGATION  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

righteousness  is  accepted  with  Him."     Fraternity  lifts  the  mind 
to  praise  and  warms  the  heart  with  joy   m  the  Incarnation, 
that  ffospel  of  blessed  brotherhood  which,  recurring  unceasingly, 
grows   not    old   in  the   repeating.      These   are   precious   names, 
Liberty,  Equalitv,  Fraternity,  but  wrenched  from  their  dmne 
attachment,  transmuted  into  license  and  vanity,  they  were  fuel 
fluno-  on  the  fierce  fires  of  irresponsible  savagery  m  the  J^rench 
Eevolution      Civil  government  involves  subordination.     Subordi- 
nation is  righteous,  wholesome,  conducive  to  the  world's  welfare. 
It  is  evident,  therefore,  how  vast  is  the  good  which  the  active 
and  faithful  use  of  parental  authority  may  outwork  for  the  State. 
Not  simply  in  inculcating  subordination  and  external  obedience 
to  precept,   though  these   are   worth  a   great   deal,   but   also   m 
training  the  voung  to  habits  of  self-restraint,  self-disciplme,  and 
personal   responsibility— and   these   are   worth   far  more.      Ihe 
attitude  of  respect  for  authority    and  reverence  for  those  right- 
fully  wielding  it  assumed  and  practiced  m   the   home,   ot   in- 
estimable value  in  the  civic  community  as  a  real  force  for  pre- 
venting wrong  and  insuring  Justice,  loyalty,  and  patriotism  as 
living  influences  is  an  outgrowth  from  the  family.     As  dynamic 
forces  thev  are  focused  in  the  home.    Focus,  anyway,  however  the 
Latin  of  it  be  Englished,  is  the  heart's  place.     Service  and  sac- 
rifice pro  patria  are  real  service  and  sacrifice  pro  focis  et  arts. 
Without  service  and  sacrifice  the  State  cannot  endure.     By  ser- 
vice and  sacrifice  the  home  exists.     The  eminent  teachers  and  ex- 
emplars of  both  therein  are  the-  mothers.     Yet   for  them  the 
depth  of  devotion  does  not  mean  narrowness.    We  ourselves  have 
known  mothers,  reallv  Spartan,  who  in  earnestness  of  meaning, 
if  not  in  classic  phrase,  have  sent  forth  sons  to  serve  the  country 
with  the  heroic  command  '^  With  your  shields  or  upon  them. 
In  these  later  days,  said  to  be  glaringly  selfish  and  corruptmgly 
licentious,  an  illustrious  instance  of  a  wife's  affectionate  stead- 
fastness and  a  mother's  untiring  devotion  has  been  presented  in 
the   life   and  history   of   that    sovereign   lady.    Queen   Victoria. 
Though  great  and  wise  in  rulership,  the  splendor  of  the  crown 
paled  before  the  luster  of  her  simple  homely  Christian  virtues. 
Hence  the  influence  she  wielded  and  the  meed  of  loving  reverence 
M^hich  she  wore  were  not   limited  by  national  and  racial  lines. 
Love,  dutv,  service,  and  sacrifice   stood  four-square   for  her  to 
all  the  winds  that  blow.     In  all  the  bounds  of  civilization  there 
was  not  a  heart  that  did  not  bow  to  her  in  grateful,  affectionate 
respect;  and  her  wonderful  life  demonstrated  what  a  vast  work 
of  beneficence  the  home  can  do  for  the  State,  and,  indeed,  for  the 
world. 

As  for  the  Church,  the  intimate  relationship  between  her  and 
the  family  is  readily  apparent.  One  need  not  go  back  to  patri- 
archal times  to  see  it.  For  foundation  work  the  Church  of  the 
Prayer  Book  goes  straight  into  the  family  and  there  lodges  in- 
fluences and  there  concentrates  forces.     Beginning  with  infant 


BISHOP  OF  MISSOURI.  127 

baptism,  laying  that  foundation  and  building  on  it,  the  theo- 
logical shaping  of  religious  truth  and  the  wholesome  provision 
of  spiritual  nourishment  become  quite  different  things  to  the 
Church  of  the  Prayer  Book  from  what  they  are  to  the  various 
Christian  bodies  who  do  not  have  the  Prayer  Book.  Individ- 
uality, subjectivity,  feelings,  need  not  be  ruled  out.  Yet  cer- 
tainly they  need  not  be  ruled  in  to  be  made  rulers  over  man's 
whole  being.  They  are  valuable  forces,  if  kept  steady  as  planets 
to  their  own  orbits.  They  are  disturbing  forces,  and  once  again 
injurious,  if  left  to  shoot  aside  and  stray  like  comets.  Personal 
repentance,  personal  faith,  personal  outreaching  and  upreaching, 
are  good  things,  blessings  to  the  individual.  But  before  them, 
in  order  of  time  and  in  count  of  importance,  are  the  corporate, 
social  things  of  covenant  adoption  and  covenant  grace  and  cov- 
enant fellowship  and  covenant  duty  and  privilege.  The  divine 
power  of  involution  has  placed  these  good  things  in  infant  bap- 
tism. Evolution  by  and  through  the  Holy  Spirit  shall  disclose 
their  existence  and,  happily,  their  benefit  to  all  patient,  faithful 
souls.  The  concentrated  essence  of  Church  doctrine  and  Bible 
truth  is  in  infant  baptism.  It  is  the  recording  gospel  of  a  cov- 
enant. And  in  the  covenant  are  the  loving  adoption  by  God 
the  Incarnate  Son,  and  impartation  of  grace  by  God  the  Holy 
Ghost,  the  Giver  of  life.  Infant  baptism  is  signal  proof  that  in 
the  field  of  spiritual  truth  and  religious  duty  God's  things  are 
the  great  things  and  man's  things  are  the  little  things.  Man's 
repentance,  man's  faith,  man's  obedience,  man's  holiness;  these 
be  important  things,  but  they  shrink  into  littleness  compared 
with  God's  covenant,  God's  adoption,  God's  love,  God's  grace. 
It  is  not  man's  choosing  of  God  to  be  his  Father  and  the  witness- 
ing of  that  choice  by  his  fellow  men, — that  is  the  important 
part  of  Holy  Baptism, — but  rather  God's  choosing  of  man  to  be 
the  child  of  his  spiritual  adoption.  Parental  love  should  hail 
with  joy  and  gratitude  the  great  blessing  which  God  is  ready  to 
give  their  child  in  Baptism.  Parental  reason  should  recognize 
that  as  their  child  is  born  into  membership  in  the  family  and 
citizenship  in  the  state,  after  the  same  fashion  he  should  be  born, 
or  re-born,  into  membership  in  God's  spiritual  Kingdom  the 
Church.  And  parental  authority  should  see  to  it  that  the  divine 
benefit  and  benedictions  be  not  withheld  from  their  child  by  any 
failure  in  bringing  him  to  receive  them. 

No  wonder  that  the  Church  enjoins  in  her  rubrics  that  "■  The 
minister  of  every  parish  shall  often  admonish  the  people  [it  is 
evident  that  the  parents  are  particularly  meant]  that  they  defer 
not  the  baptism  of  their  children  longer  than  the  first  or  second 
Sunday  next  after  their  birth,  or  other  holy  day  falling  between, 
unless  upon  a  great  and  reasonable  cause."  And  no  wonder  that 
the  Church  in  the  United  States,  while  no  doubt  appreciating  the 
excellence  and  value  of  an  ancient  institution  of  sponsors,  has 
preferred  to  emphasize  parental  duty  and  parental  authority  by 


128  THE  OBLIGATION  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

providing  that  "Parents  shall  be  admitted  as  sponsors  if  it  be 
desired." 

Yet  the  blessings  of  the  covenant  are  not  of  the  ex  opere 
operato  sort.  If  God's  benefits  conferred  upon  loved  children  are 
to  be  effectively  applied  and  used,  they  call  for  co-operation  on 
the  part  of  His  loving  children,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  sponsors  to 
set  the  children  along  the  path  and  keep  them  in  the  way  of 
such  co-operation.  Sponsors  are  the  representatives  of  parents, 
the  supplementaries  of  parents,  hence  the  duty  of  sponsors  is 
parental  authority.  That  authority  is  engaged  and  enjoined  to 
see  to  it  that  the  child  be  instructed  "in  all  things  which  a 
Christian  ought  to  know  and  believe  to  his  soul's  health";  and 
that  he  be  "  virtuously  brought  up  to  lead  a  godly  and  a  Chris- 
tian life."  There  is  included  an  old-fashioned  injunction  withal 
— that  he  be  called  upon  "  to  hear  sermons." 

Is  it  too  much  to  say  that  right  here  there  is  noted,  at  least  to 
us  of  the  Church,  an  abdication  of  parental  authority  greatly  to 
be  regretted?  We  fear  that  children  are  not  taught  the  Cate- 
chism and  the  Bible  in  the  home  to  the  same  extent  as  fifty 
years  ago.  It  may  be  said  that  Sunday  Schools  are  annexes  to 
homes,  and  may  take  npon  themselves  this  portion  of  parental 
duty.  Thev  may,  but  even  if  they  do,  no  Sunday-school  teacher. 
of  whatever  imaginable  excellence,  can  lodge  instructive  thoughts 
in  the  child's  mind  or  deepen  godly  impressions  in  the  child's 
heart  as  can  the  father  or  mother.  As  for  calling  upon  him 
to  hear  sermons,  the  injunction  is  made  to  furnish  ground  for 
forms  of  witty  speech  quite  as  often  as  it  is  taken  seriously  to 
indicate  a  wholesome  and  important  duty.  Take  the  term  not 
in  its  narrow  solitariness  of  meaning,  but  in  its  fruitful  con- 
nections and  relations.  Granted  that  the  child  hears  sermons  best 
in  the  examples  of  daily  life  of  its  father  and  mother;  granted 
also  that  the  private  prayers  whispered  at  the  mother's  knee  at 
the  bedside,  and  said  by  the  father's  side  in  the  family  devotions, 
are  sermons  than  which  none  can  be  better;  and  granted,  too,  that 
the  hearing  of  sermons  by  the  crude  young  mind  as  reasoning 
adapted  to  the  intellect,  or  as  exhortations  urged  upon  the  sense 
of  duty,  is  a  thing  of  vain  inappropriateness,  yet  he  that  hath 
an  ear  to  receive  it  knows  that  the  injunction  "  to  hear  sermons  " 
carries  with  it  the  injunction  to  go  to  church,  to  honor  and  obey 
and  worship  Almighty  God.  Of  little  children  in  the  family  pew, 
of  the  worshiping  congregation  is  there  not  a  sad  deficiency  nowa- 
days? "Eemember  the  Sabbath  day  to  keep  it  holy."  Is  that 
not  a  command  to  the  children  as  well  as  others?  And  how  can 
the  Lord's  Day  be  kept  holy  save  by  gatherings  thereon  in  the 
congregation  for  worship  of  His  Holy  ISTame?  Our  blessed  heri- 
tage in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  should  teach  us  that  in  the 
normal  worshiping  congregation  the  little  children  should  be  in- 
cluded. It  is  prayer  and  praise  common  to  them  with  us.  They 
can  say  "  Our  Father  "  and  "  Amen  "  as  well  as  we.     Thev  can 


BISHOP  OF  MISSOURI.  129 

iterate  "  I  believe  in  God  the  Father "  as  well  as  we.     And  if 
Sunday  Schools  have  worked  this  displacement  and  disappearance 
of  the  children  from  the  worshiping  congregation,  it  is  one  bad 
result  of  theirs  to  be   set   over  against  their  many  good   ones. 
There  need  be  no  resort  to  compulsion.     Compulsion  is  justly 
criticised.     By  reason   of   its    unwholesome   reaction   it   may   be 
denounced.      But  if  parental  authority  would  use  its  power  in 
bringing  the  children  to  church  in  no  different  way  from  the 
use  of  it  in  sending  them  to  school  or  gathering  them  for  protec- 
tion and  sleep  night  after  night  in  the  house,  it  could  form  and 
foster  in  them  the  invaluable  habit  of  going  to  church,  not  only 
an  obedience  unto  God,  but  also  a  wholesome  restraint  against 
evil  and  a  nourishing  support  of  good  and  a  comforting  refresh- 
ment of  spirit  for  all  their  earthly  years.     St.  Paul  speaks  once 
again  of  "  The  Church  in  the  house."     The  words  declare  a  close 
and    intimate    relation.     Conversely,    sweetness,    security,     and 
strength  all  around  wall  attend  upon  the  presence  of  the  family 
irw  the  church.     And  church  and  home  can  co-work  in  teaching 
God's  truth  and  in  learning  God's   laws   and  in  obeying   God's 
will.     "  These  words  which  I  command  thee  this  day,  shall  be 
in  thine  heart:  and  thou  shalt  teach  them  diligently  unto  thy 
children  and  shalt  talk    of  them  when  thou  sittest  in  thine  house, 
and  when  thou  walkest  by  the  way,  and  when  thou  liest  down, 
and  when  thou  risest  up.     And  thou  shalt  bind  them  for  a  sign 
upon  thine  hand,  and  they  shalt  be  as  frontlets  between  thine 
eyes.     And  thou  shalt  write  them  upon  the  posts  of  thy  house 
and  on  thy  gates." 

The  Church,  so  far  as  her  formalities  are  concerned,  cannot 
be  charged  with  neglect  of  her  obligation  to  urge  the  res])onsi- 
bility  of  parental  authority.  Witness  the  address  to  sponsors, 
and  "in  them,  and  through  them  to  parents  :  "  Ye  are  to  take  care 
that  this  child  be  brought  to  the  bishop  to  be  confirmed  by  him 
so  soon  as  he  can  say  the  Creed,  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  the  Ten 
Commandments,  and  is  sufficiently  instructed  in  other  parts  of 
the  Church  Catechism  set  forth  for  that  purpose."  Witness  also 
the  rubric  at  the  end  of  the  Catechism :  "  All  fathers  and  mothers 
shall  cause  their  children  who  have  not  learned  their  Catechism 
to  oome  to  the  church  at  the  time  ap])ointed,  and  obediently  to 
hear  and  to  be  ordered  by  the  minister  until  such  time  as  they 
have  learned  all  that  is  here  appointed  for  them  to  learn."  Direc- 
tions and  injunctions  of  the  Church  are  not  wanting.  If  there 
be  lack  it  is  the  heedful  and  loving  practice  of  the  Church  people 
that  is  wanting.  Compulsion  must  not  be  used  in  bringing  chil- 
dren to  Confirmation.  Let  there  be  a  stopping  short  of  that. 
That  would  mean  harm  to  the  individual  soul,  and  would  bring 
sad  violence  of  after  reaction.  But  the  quiet,  loving,  steady 
exercise  of  parental  authority  should  be  used.  So,  in  popular 
thought,  Confirmation  might"  get  its  true,  full  meaning.  It  is 
not  merely  the  opportunity  for  the  individual  soul  to  come  for- 


J30  THE  OBLIGATION  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

ward  to  renew  its  baptismal  vows.  It  is  that,— and  a  valuable- 
opportunity  it  is  voluntarily  to  enlist  in  the  Saviour's  service, 
and  to  put  on  His  full  uniform,  and  to  take  the  sacramental  oath 
of  personal  allegiance  in  the  Church  militant.  But  it  is  more. 
It  is  another  step  into  the  inner  circle  of  grace;  a  further  receiv- 
ing of  the  benefits  and  blessings  of  the  spiritual  covenant.  What 
God  gives  in  it,  not  what  man  does  in  it,  is  the  great  thing. 
Holy  Baptism  may  be  esteemed  the  sacrament  of  covenant 
adoption  by  God  the  Father,  and  Holy  Communion  the  sacrament 
of  covenant  brotherhood  in  God  the  Incarnate  Son,  and  Confirma- 
tion the  complement  of  the  one  sacrament  and  preparation  for- 
the  other,  as  the  sacramental  covenant  gift  of  God  the  Holy 
Ghost.  How  could  the  laying-on-of-hands  get  its  rating  as  one 
of  the  principles  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ,  with  repentance  and 
faith,  and  baptism  and  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  and  eternal 
judgment,  except  it  were  the  outward  and  visible  sign  of  the 
inward  and  spiritual  grace  of  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost?  And 
parental  love,  alive  to  the  covenant  blessings  promised  to  its 
dear  ones,  should  combine  with  parental  authority  to  bring  the 
children  to  receive  those  blessings  from  God  through  the  Church. 

The  combination  of  parental  love  and  parental  authority  makes 
a  unity  of  power  indeed.  If  into  this  combination  there  be  bound 
the  sanctities  of  the  marriage  bond  preserved  inviolate,  and  rev- 
erence for  the  home  life  kept  deep  and  true,  family  prayer  sent 
up  daily  as  the  sweet  savor  of  an  incense,  there  would  ensue 
teaching  of  unspeakable  value  by  "precept  upon  precept,  line 
upon  line,  here  a  little  .and  there  a  little  "  to  make  strong  the 
best  of  human  agencies  for  maintaining  the  integrity  of  the 
Family,  the  stability  of  the  State,  and  the  vitality  of  the  Church.^ 

Yet,  evermore,  example  is  better  than  precept.  Example  is 
helped  on  by  a  characteristic  of  human  nature;  that  is,  the  strong 
force  of  imitation,  strongest  in  children.  Precept  is  hindered 
by  a  strong  force  of  human  nature;  that  is,  an  uprising  of  dislike 
and  resistance  to  be  enjoined,  positive  law.  Others  than  children 
know  quite  naturally  this  force.  If  the  one  has  a  natural  force 
mightily  efficient  to  help  it,  and  the  other  a  natural  force  mightily 
efficient  to  hinder  it,  who  wonders  that  it  is  said,  and  found  out, 
and  known  that  example  is  better  and  stronger  than  precept? 

If  parents  will  add  example  to  precept,  or,  better  still,  will 
add  precept  to  example,  they  shall  weave  a  double  cord  of  en- 
during strength  to  draw  with  it  promotion  of  the  glory  of  God, 
the  best  welfare  of  men,  and  the  happiness  of  their  own  and 
their  children's  souls. 


BISHOP  OF  HURON.  131 


FRIDAY  AFTERNOON. 

Seventh  Topic. 

THE  OBLIGATION  OF  THE  CHURCH  'i^O  MAINTAIN  THE 
CHRISTIAN  FAMILY  IN  ITS  INTEGRITY. 

(b)  THE  DISCHARGE  OF  THE  PARENTAL  OBLIGATION. 

Second  Paper. 

The  Right  Rev.  Maurice  S.  Baldwin,  D.D., 

BISHOP  OF  HURON. 

It  is  a  true  remark,  and  one  which  has  great  force  and  beauty  in 
it,  that  all  our  ideas  of  home  are  gathered  from  Him  who,  when 
He  was  fulfilling  His  ministry  on  earth  had  no  home,  who  said  of 
Himself  that  while  foxes  had  holes  and  birds  of  the  air  their  nests, 
the  Son  of  man  had  not  where  to  lay  His  head.  Yet,  what  insti- 
tution is  there  in  the  Christian  community  with  boughs  so  spread- 
ing, with  roofs  so  deep,  with  loveliness  so  surpassing  fair  as  that 
blessed  sanctuary  which  we  call  home? 

Two  great  institutions  there  are  with  which  we  Christians  are 
all  intimately  connected,  and  in  whose  welfare  all  our  interests 
are  more  less  involved.  I  refer  first  to  Home  and  secondly  to 
the  State.  It  is  deeply  interesting  to  observe  the  remarkable 
sanction  which  our  Lord  has  given  to  them  both. 

Our  Redeemer  is  recorded  to  have  wept  only  twice  in  His  brief 
sojourn  upon  earth:  once  over  Martha  and  Mary  at  the  grave  of 
Lazarus;  the  second  time,  over  Jerusalem  when  she  rejected  Him, 
and  the  profound  and  consolatory  inference  has  been  drawn  by  a 
late  eminent  writer,  that  our  Lord  had  the  deepest  and  most 
loving  sympathy  with  these  two  above-mentioned  institutions,  the 
Home  and  the  State. 

To  both  He  gave  the  most  touching  evidence  of  His  love  and 
sympathy,  namely.  His  tears. 

Whatever,  therefore,  to-day  may  be  said  against  either  of  them; 
however  faulty  in  their  construction,  our  Lord  does  not  seek  to 
destroy  them,  to  write  bitter  things  against  them,  but  to  reform 
and  regenerate  them,  to  make  them  what  they  should  be  in  the 
light  and  power  of  His  presence.  I  doubt  not  that  even  now, 
throned  though  He  be  in  the  splendor  of  His  inaccessible  light, 
among  the  many  sad  things  which  grieve  and  sadden  Him  on  the 
earth  must  be  the  condition  of  the  State  on  the  one  hand,  and  of 
the  Home  on  the  other.  This  strong  consolation,  therefore,  we 
have  that  however  difficult,  however  apparently  hopeless  the  task 
we  now  have  before  us  of  making  these  institutions  instinct  with 
new  life  and  power,  we  have  the  strong  sympathy  and  love  of  the 


132  THE    OBLIGATION    OF    THE    CHURCH. 

Lord  Jesus  Christ  with  us;  the  availing  sympathy  of  Him  who 
shed  His  scalding  tears  over  them  both. 

In  the  solution  of  this  great  question,  how  best  to  subordinate 
-the  home  to  the  influence  and  authority  of  the  truth,  we  do  well 
to  consider  what  is  God's  unchanging  plan  in  the  regulation  of  the 
universe  itself.  He  places  the  sun  in  the  midst,  and  compels  every 
planet  in  the  system  to  revolve  throughout  all  time  about  it.  By 
this  inscrutable  law  no  orb  in  the  heavens  ever  collides  with,  or 
•endangers  the  safety  of  another;  all  keep  their  proper  distance, 
and  act  in  perfect  harmony.  Our  gigantic  universe  itself  is  said 
to  revolve  round  some  other  distant  and  awful  center,  so  that  in 
the  material  heavens  all  things  created,  whether  great  or  small, 
are  dominated  by,  and  subordinated  to,  this  one  tremendous  law. 
Thus  God  fixes  by  His  unalterable  decree  a  certain  center,  around 
which  all  secondary  objects  are  bound  absolutely  to  revolve. 

One  says :  in  ancient  times  they  used  to  teach  in  the  schools  a 
system  that  was  known  as  the  Ptolemaic,  which,  giving  as  it  did, 
a  wrong  center,  proclaimed  that  this  little  earth,  only  a  molecule 
compared  to  the  giant  worlds  about  it,  was  the  absolute  center  of 
the  whole  universe.  Xow,  it  has  been  well  said  of  this  system  that 
making  the  center  wrong,  the  circumference  and  everything  else 
^dthin  it  had  to  be  wrong  also.  We  know  better  now.  We  know 
the  minuteness  of  our  earth.  We  know  the  magnitude  of  the 
lordly  sun.  We  know  that  this  center  rules  with  majestic  power 
the  earth  and  every  planet  that  comes  within  the  reach  of  its  be- 
wildering attraction.  It  is  so  in  the  spiritual  world :  here  Christ 
Jesus  is  the  Sun  of  righteousness,  the  center  of  the  moral  uni- 
verse, for  it  pleased  the  Father  that  in  Him  should  all  fullness 
dwell.  In  His  exaltation,  in  making  Him  Lord  over  all,  supreme 
and  infinite  head  over  all  our  homes  lies  the  future  and  the  glory 
of  our  hope.  Xow  our  Lord's  plan  is  that  the  parents  themselves 
shall  be  subordinated  in  everything  to  Himself,  and  be  the  true 
guides  and  instructors  of  their  children.  They  are  to  bring  them 
up  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord.  The  present 
laxity  and  want  of  discipline  which  constitute  so  painful  a  char- 
acteristic of  our  age  invert  the  Divine  order  and  actually,  in  many 
instances,  subordinate  the  parents  to  the  children.  The  results  of 
this  frightful  inversion  of  the  divine  order  are  everywhere  evident 
in  the  distressing  shipwrecks  we  are  compelled  to  witness  every 
day. 

The  "  burthensome  times  "  spoken  of  by  St.  Paul  in  his  second 
epistle  to  Timothy  are  now  fully  upon  us,  the  characteristic  of 
which  are  that  men  shall  be  lovers  of  their  own  selves,  disobedi- 
ent to  parents,  unthankful,  unholy.  Now,  the  only  way  to  bring 
order  out  of  chaos,  and  symmetry  out  of  confusion,  is  to  exalt  the 
living  and  glorious  Christ,  and  so  to  uplift  and  magnify  Him 
through  the  Holy  Ghost  that  parents  may  be  led  to  assume  and 
maintain  their  own  God-given  position  as  the  guides  and  teachers 
of  their  own  families. 


BISHOP  OJ"  HURON.  133 

I  say  not  this  from  any  economic  or  earthly  standpoint,  but  as 
being  an  essential  part  of  God's  great  revelation  to  man;  obedi- 
ence to  which  is  righteousness,  peace,  and  Joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost; 
disobedience,  inevitable  death. 

As  a  humble  contribution  toward  this  most  desirable  end,  I 
would  submit  the  following  considerations,  all  of  far  more  im- 
portance than  they  usually  receive: 

First,  The  development  of  the  Sunday  school  in  the  activities 
of  the  Church. 

A  modern  writer  says :  "  Whatever  you  wish  a  nation  to  know, 
put  it  into  the  minds  of  her  young."  Now  if  there  is  a  subject  which 
demands  pre-eminent  attention,  and  calls  for  immediate  action  on 
the  part  of  all  those  who  love  their  God  or  country,  it  is  the  ques- 
tion how  can  the  Church  best  educate  and  train  up  the  world  of 
the  young,  growing  into  manhood  and  womanhood  all  about  her? 
Attention  has  been  drawn  to  the  enormous  claims  which  some 
modern  writers  have  made  for  civilization  as  a  refining,  transform- 
ing power;  indeed  they  have  had  the  boldness  and  audacity  to 
assert  that  civilization  can  eifect  that  which  the  Gospel  is  unable 
to  produce,  and  that,  therefore,  it  ought  to  precede  it,  as  better 
suited  in  their  Judgment  for  the  wants  and  miseries  of  barbaric 
and  savage  nations.  In  reply  to  this  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  the 
practical  experience  of  centuries  of  time,  answer,  No.  Teaching 
without  the  hallowing,  restraining  influence  of  the  blessed  re- 
ligion of  our  Lord  is  more  likely  to  destroy  than  to  build  up  a 
character,  to  ruin  rather  than  to  bless. 

No,  we  need  a  definite  course  of  religious  instruction  through.- 
out  all  our  schools  and  halls  of  learning,  whether  this  idea  be  in 
harmony  with  political  wisdom  or  not.  There  are  thousands  who 
apparently  neither  teach  their  children  at  home,  nor  send  them  to 
the  Sunday  schools  of  the  Church.  If  therefore  no  religious  in- 
struction be  given  to  these  children,  either  at  home  or  abroad, 
what  guarantee  have  we  that  they  will  not  grow  up  as  a  brood  of 
infidels  or  outcasts  from  the  faith?  The  Bible  in  the  school  we 
ought  to  have,  and  must  have,  if  we  are  going  to  save  the  growing 
generation  from  the  abyss  of  an  awful  and  paralyzing  infidelity. 
We  learn  this  from  the  undeniable  fact  that  of  the  men  who 
are  living  abandoned  lives  by  far  the  worst,  the  hardest  to  reclaim, 
are  those  who  come  from  our  universities  and  highest  schools  of 
learning.  A  modern  speaker,  commenting  upon  this  subject,  says : 
"  This  was  the  great  lesson  which  England  had  to  learn  in  the 
great  mutiny  in  India  in  A.  D.  1857,  when  the  man  who  perpe- 
trated the  massacre  of  Cawnpore,  and  broke  all  faith  and  cove- 
nant, was  one  who  had  received  England's  learning  without  Eng- 
land's faith  in  God.  His  mind  had  been  enlarged,  his  capacities 
quickened  by  all  the  learning  of  the  secular  schools,  but  gTace  had 
never  taught  him  to  control  liis  passions  or  subordinate  his  mind 
to  the  holy  Avill  of  God,  so  that  instead  of  being  an  example  of 
what  God  could  make  him  by  grace,  his  education  only  left  him  a 


J34  THE  OBLIGATION  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

savage  still-a  tiger  that  sprang  from  its  lair  to  deeds  of  atrocity 
and  blood  "  I  have  often  been  struck  by  the  masterful  way  m 
which  Eome  grasps  this  tremendous  subject;  whatever  she  omits 
.he  never  neglects  this.  She  says  to  herself,  she  nmst  have,  and 
will  have,  the  whole  education  of  her  young  in  her  own  imperious 
hands.  Whatever  is  necessary,  in  her  judgment,  for  the  spiritual 
welfare  of  voung:  whatever  great  principles  of  her  Church  are  to 
be  impressed  upon  their  minds,  Rome  insists  shall  be  taught  them 
at  her  own  knee,  and  she,  and  no  one  else,  shall  lay  the  foundations 
of  their  future  faith.  How  often  in  our  streets  do  we  see  long- 
processions  of  boys  and  girls  of  their  communion,  but  never  ^^th- 
out  their  attending  priests  and  guardians  to  watch  over  them 
every  moment  of  the  dav.  The  sleepless  eye  of  Eome  is  oyer  them 
everv  hour  of  their  childhood,  and  never  will  she  let  them  slip 
from  her  hands  until  she  feels  sure  that  her  name  is  so  interwoven 
with  the  cords  and  fibers  of  their  nature  that,  in  her  judgment, 
no  storms  or  trials  can  ever  erase  it  from  their  hearts. 

Now,  how  do  we  too  often  act  in  bringing  up  the  young  com- 
mitted to  our  care?  In  many  instances  we  leave  them  absolutely 
to  them'^elves  unarmed,  unprepared,  untaught  to  be  molded  and 
indurated,  like  the  canvons  of  the  West,  into  a  thousand  grotesque 
and  vicious  forms  bv  the  rude  action  of  the  times  we  live  m.  1 
would  say :  Let  the  Church  cast  off  the  apathy  and  indifference  of 
the  past,  and  awaken  to  a  new  life  of  zeal  and  action,  exercising, 
by  the  grace  of  God,  her  imdoubted  right  to  be  both  the  guardian 
and  teacher  of  her  wandering  and  helpless  young. 

Here  in  the  school  with  the  youth  of  the  land  at  her  feet,  and 
with  the  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus  in  her  mouth,  she  can  proclaim 
truths  which,  through  the  Holy  Ghost,  may  re-create  their  lives, 
renew  their  dispositions,  and  make  their  home  what  it  really 
should  be — a  Heaven  on  earth,  an  oasis  in  the  desert — an  Elim 
of  palms  and  fountains  amid  the  waterless  districts  of  a  weary  and 
sinful  earth. 

How  imperative  therefore  is  the  necessity  that  the  Church 
should  seize  this  golden  opportunity  of  youth  and  endeavor  by  the 
grace  of  God  to  stamp  upon  it  that  glorious  name  which  is  above 
ever\^  other  name,  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

Secondly.  For  the  strengthening  the  parental  authority  I  would 
strongly  recommend  that  the  Church  impress  upon  her  people  the- 
saeredness  and  absolutely  binding  character  of  the  marriage  vow. 

I  can  hardly  imagine  any  evil  more  likely  to  unhinge  and  ut- 
terly dislocate  the  foundations  of  home  and  of  society  itself,  than 
loose  and  unscriptural  ideas  about  the  holiness  of  that  marriage- 
which  was  instituted  by  God  Himself  in  the  Garden  of  Eden  and 
now  solemnized  by  the  Church  with  all  the  sanctions  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion.  There  is  one  great  truth  which  all  branches  of  the 
Catholic  Church  must  agree  in  teaching — that  it  is  a  most  solemn 
vow  and  covenant  not  to  be  enterprised,  nor  taken  in  hand,  un- 
advisedly, lightly,   or  wantonly,   but   reverently,   discreetly,   ad- 


BISHOP  OF  HURON. 


135 


Tisedly,  soberly,  and  in  the  fear  of  God,  duly  considering  the 
causes  for  which  matrimony  was  ordained.  Surely,  too,  all 
TDranches  of  the  Church  should  unite  in  indorsing  this:  '^^ Those 
whom  God  hath  joined  together  let  not  man  put  asunder."  The 
supposed  disruption  of  the  marriage  tie,  and  the  loose  and  utterly 
imscriptural  ideas  so  often  prevalent  in  society  on  this  momentous 
subject,  now  constitute  an  awful  factor  in  the  destruction  of  home 
and  the  overthrow  of  all  those  sweet  relationships  of  family  life 
which  gladden  our  path  and  help  us,  under  God,  to  endure  the 
burdens  and  bear  the  sorrows  of  this  stormy,  troubled  world.  It 
is  stated  that  the  Home  is  the  great  unit  of  society,  and  of  the 
State  itself,  and  therefore  if  we  break  up  the  one  we  must  also 
of  necessitv  break  up  the  other,  for  the  two  are  indissolubly  linked 
together,  and  the  fall  of  the  one  must  in  the  end  inevitably 
produce  the  fall  of  the  other. 

I  think  therefore  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  advancement  ot 
Tlis  truth,  for  the  preservation  of  our  homes  and  the  saving  of  our 
voung,  the  Church  is  bound  to  make  to  the  world  about  her  a  bold 
and  clear  statement  on  this  all-important  subject;  she  is  bound 
to  maintain  the  teaching  of  her  Lord  and  to  build  up  her  position 
"by  the  verities  of  the  word  of  truth. 

"  Thirdly.  The  lowering  the  dignity  and  estimation  of  the  Bible 
in  the  eyes  of  the  people  through  a  false  and  destructive  criti- 
cism constitutes  one  of  the  most  awful  factors  of  the  day  for  the 
■overthrow  of  the  home  and  all  that  is  good  and  holy  in  this  land. 

When  I  speak  of  the  dignity  of  the  Bible  as  being  lowered  by  a 
false  and  destructive  criticism,  I  only  mean  that  it  is  so  in  the 
eyes  of  the  world  at  large:  the  Bible' itself  cannot  be  injured  by 
all  the  infidelitv  and  rationalism  of  the  age,  and  will  come  out  of 
all  the  fierce  attacks  of  its  enemies  like  Shadrach,  Meshech,  and 
Abednego  from  the  furnace  of  ISTebuchadnezzar  without  even  the 
smell  of  fire  resting  upon  it.  We  need  have  no  fear  as  to  the 
stability  of  the  Bible :  it  will  stand  through  all  the  vicissitudes  of 
time,  and  will  be  vindicated  at  last,  sentence  by  sentence,  and 
word  by  word,  in  the  all-searching  light  of  eternity  itself. 

"  Forever  changeless,  and  the  same  forever."  The  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  honored  the  Scriptures.  He  said:  "  In  the  volume  of  the 
Book  it  is  written  of  Me."  It  has  been  well  said  that  in  this  Holy 
Bible  He  found  the  exact  path  His  hallowed  feet  were  to  tread 
from  the  manger-cradle  in  Bethlehem  to  the  Cross  of  Calvary  and 
on  thence  to  the  heights  of  glory.  When  tempted  or  assailed 
either  by  friends  or  foes  to  turn  aside,  even  for  a  moment,  from 
His  inflexible  purpose.  His  invariable  answer  was :  How,  then,  can 
the  Scriptures  be  fulfilled?  The  Holy  Scriptures  were  the  guide 
nnd  index  of  all  His  days— the  solemn,  inscrutable  limit  beyond 
which  it  was  impossible  even  for  Him  to  pass. 

When,  therefore,  we  contrast  this  awful  and  divine  dignity  with 
Avhich  our  Lord  ever  invested  the  Holy  Scriptures  with  the 
haughty,  impudent,  blasphemous  \sTitings  of  the  so-called  school 


136         church's  methods  to  the  needs  of  the  century. 

of  destructive  criticism,  we  cannot  but  be  amazed  at  the  bold 
audacity  and  wickedness  of  professing  Christian  men.  Undeterred 
by  the  solemn  statement  of  our  Lord,  "  That  on  whomsoever  this 
Stone  should  fall  it  would  grind  him  to  powder,"  they  challenge 
His  word,  deny  His  miracles,  and  contradict  Him  to  His  face. 
What  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  honors,  the  Church  must  honor. 
What  He  calls  holy,  she  must  call  holy  too.  We  know  our  blessed 
Lord  believed  in  the  absolute  accuracy  and  truthfulness  of  the 
written  word,  and  therefore  the  Church  has  no  room  for  doubt. 
She  should  take  her  place  forever  at  His  side. 

Hostile  criticism  has  already  done  an  awful  and  shameless 
work  for  which  it  will  have  to  answer  at  the  bar  of  Grod.  It  has 
strengthened  the  cold  forbidding  heart  of  skepticism  and  infi- 
delity, cheered  on  the  roystering  drunkard  at  his  cups,  and  taught 
untold  ecstatic  youths,  as  they  are  pressing  forward  to  receive 
holy  orders,  that  it  is  a  sign  of  genius  to  question,  and  of  manli- 
ness to  deny,  the  very  foundations  of  our  common  faith. 

And  what,  I  may  ask,  can  break  up  the  blessed  ties  of  home  with 
greater  rapidity  than  the  loosening  of  all  faith  in  the  inspired 
word  of  God?  Surely  the  family  is  bound  together  by  other  ties 
than  those  of  consanguinity  and  affection;  under  all  the  blessed- 
ness of  home  lies  a  common  faith  in  the  Fatherhood  of  God,  the 
salvation  wrought  out  by  out  Lord  and  Saviour,  and  the  certainty 
of  those  promises  more  immutable  than  the  everlasting  hills. 

Therefore,  if  we  desire  to  maintain  the  sanctity  of  our  home, 
by  all  means  let  us  hold  fast  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints. 


FEIDAY  AFTERNOON^. 
Eighth  Topic. 

THE  ADAPTATION  OF  THE   CHURCH'S  METHOD'S  TO 
THE  NEEDS  OF  THE  CENTURY. 

(b)  TO  MEET  RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES.— OBSERVANCE 
OF  THE  LORD'S  DAY  AND  FAMILY  WORSHIP. 

First  Paper. 

The  Right  Rev.  William  Woodruff  Niles,  D.D.,LL.D.,  D.C.L., 

BISHOP  OF  NEW^  HAMPSHIRE. 

Abashed  I  am,  my  Right  Reverend  Brethren,  to  tind  myself  ad- 
dressing you  upon  a  subject  like  this,  of  "  Family  Worship," — a 
subject  upon  which  I  most  certainly  can  set  forth  nothing  not 
already  known  by  you,  every  one,  as"^  well  as  by  me.     And  of  the 


BISHOP  OF  NEW  HAMPSHIRE.  137 

importance  of  the  thing  itself  you  are  as  well  persuaded,  doubt- 
less, as  I  can  possibly  be.  Yet  I  find  myself  set  to  this  task;, 
and  all  one  can  do  is  to  accept  the  command  and  take  up  the  duty. 

If  there  were  before  me  a  congregation  of  lay  folk,  with  a 
stout  heart  and  with  feelings  very  solemn,  as  God's  minister  and 
prophet,  I  could  address  myself  to  them.  For  a  man  who  has- 
accepted  the  responsibilities  Avhich  a  family  brings,  few  things 
more  belong  to  his  peace,  few  things  along  with  a  steady^ 
pure,  consistent  life  on  his  part,  more  help  in  the  bring- 
ing of  his  children  forward  in  Christian  living,  than  this  daily 
kneeling  together  under  the  home  roof;  and  looking  up  to  the 
Heavenly  Father  in  supplication,  and  with  words  of  thanks- 
giving and  praise,  in  faith  and  love.  Then,  indeed,  if  the 
heart  be  pure,  they  can  believe  in  a  Divine  guidance  through  the 
day.  Then  they  have  the  right  to  feel  that  there  is  a  roof  over 
their  heads  at  night.  '*'  Whoso  dwelleth  under  the  defense  of  the 
Most  High,  shall  abide  under  the  shadow  of  the  Almighty." 

The  young  man  growing  up  in  an  atmosphere  charged  with 
faith  in  God  and  in  things  not  seen  is  very  apt  to  believe  in 
spiritual  verities  when  he  shall  have  come  to  man's  estate,  and 
apt  to  "  endure  as  seeing  Him  who  is  invisible."  To  bring  men 
and  women  to  believe  in  spiritual  verities,  to  believe  with  the 
Imagination  as  with  the  mind,  so  that  those  verities  shall  be 
to  the  soul  and  mind  just  as  real  as  the  ground  on  which  they 
tread, — in  a  word,  to  bring  the  Invisible  God  and  the  things 
above  to  be  visible  to  the  mortal  man,  this  is  a  large  part  of  the 
Christian  minister's  work.  He  who  has  grown  up  in  nearness 
to  heavenly  things,  in  sacrament,  and  in  public  worship,  and  in 
private  prayer,  and  in  the  daily  communion  of  the  family  at 
their  common  worship,  is  least  likely  to  find  those  realities  fade 
in  later  years.  And  surely  in  an  age  like  this,  with  its  rush 
and  its  noise,  with  material  things  pressing  upon  us  on  every 
side,  we  ought  to  let  slip  no  help  to  forming  in  us  the  spiritual 
mind. 

Moreover,  inasmuch  as  prayers  said  in  and  by  a  family  include 
much  of  petition  and  of  giving  of  thanks  for  the  family,  and 
for  common  things  connected  with  their  life  in  common,  all  this 
tends  very  helpfully  to  the  right  way  of  looking  at  our  ordinary 
work  and  at  our  every-day  affairs — at  what  we  are  too  ready 
to  deem  only  secular.  Surely  the  right  way,  and  the  only  Chris- 
tian way,  of  esteeming  all  these  honest,  necessary,  common 
things,  is  as  part  of  our  religion,  and  not  needing  ever  to  war 
against  the  soul.  That  Christian  has  gained  much  who  has 
learned  how  to  be  at  once  "  not  slothful  in  business,  fervent  in 
spirit,  serving  the  Lord."  And  the  holy  prophet  long  ago  sang 
of  these  days  of  the  Messiah :  "  In  that  day  upon  the  bells  of  the 
horses  shall  be  holiness  to  the  Lord.  And  the  pots  in  the  Lord's 
House  shall  be  as  the  bowls  before  the  altar,  yea,  every  pot  in 
Jerusalem  and  in  Judah  shall  be  holiness  to  the  Lord  of  Hosts." 


138    church's  methods  to  the  needs  of  the  century. 

Earthly  joys  and  earthly  cares,  religiously  lived  in,  are  religious 
and  pleasing  to  God — the  kitchen,  the  workshop,  the  humblest 
task  and  service,  every  one.  And  St.  Peter's  spiritual  priesthood 
of  all  believers  finds  its  exercise  and  place.  All  which  good 
things  are  largely  furthered  when  the  man,  as  priest  in  his  own 
house,  every  day  thanks  God  at  the  family  meal,  and  invokes, 
in  behalf  of  all  in  the  house,  God's  blessing  on  their  ordinary 
duties  of  the  day. 

These  benefits  all,  and  many  others,  come  to  the  family  from 
family  worship  by  and  through  the  act  and  the  habit,  apart  from 
Ood's  direct  answers  to  the  prayers. 

If,  then,  it  is  nearness  to  God  that  tells;  if  a  vivid  faith,  a 
holy  love,  a  deep  consciousness  of  Divine  things, — in  a  word,  if 
what  we  are  counts  more  with  God  than  our  many  activities, 
than  the  amount  that  we  do,  then  surely  all  these  quiet,  old- 
fashioned,  evangelical  ways  of  a  domestic  piety  ought  to  be  firmly 
held,  and  kept,  and  honored. 

To  have  made  the  daily  drawing  nigh  to  God  in  the  devout 
practices  of  a  Christian  home  manifestly  a  business,  a  serious 
business,  not  to  be  lightly  put  aside,  will,  under  God,  go  far  in 
determining  the  estimate  which  they  who  grow  up  in  the  at- 
mosphere of  such  a  home  will  through  life  put  upon  the  things 
of  God — of  worship,  of  duty,  of  faith,  of  religion's  transcendent 
place.  For  him  it  is  easier, — I  had  almost  said  it  is  natural, — 
to  make  the  Kingdom  of  God  the  First  Thing. 

Last  week  I  was  guest  in  a  homestead  in  my  own  diocese,  which 
house  had  been  held  by  one  family  from  the  first,  one  hundred 
and  twenty  years.  In  all  these  years,  so  far  as  it  is  known  or 
believed,  not  one  day  had  passed  without  prayers  to  God  going 
up  from  the  assembled  family  beneath  that  roof.  That  family 
has  spread  itself  out  in  many  branches.  Some  of  its  descend- 
ants have  attained  much  distinction  and  unto  very  great  useful- 
ness, as  heads  of  universities,  in  civic  affairs  of  moment  and  of 
large  reach  in  large  cities;  in  erecting  and  endowing  churches; 
in  establishing  and  nourishing  institutions  of  mercy;  in  pro- 
moting missions  both  at  home  and  in  foreign  lands;  most  of  all, 
in  the  beautiful  ways  of  a  pure  and  gracious  domestic  life  and 
of  its  homely  duties.  Best  of  all,  among  the  scores  of  men  and 
women  who  themselves  or  whose  ancestors  have  gone  forth  from 
that  homestead,  not  one  poor  life  have  I  ever  known,  not  one 
selfish  or  unworthy  deed.  None  of  the  kindred  folk  has,  so  far 
as  I  know  and  believe,  turned  his  back  upon  the  faith  and  the 
practice  of  Christ's  religion. 

The  multiform  organizations  and  activities  in  the  Church  of 
to-day  have  their  value,  and  a  value  not  small.  But  better  than 
church  clubs,  than  guilds,  and  the  rest, — more  pleasing  to  Christ, 
I  am  sure,  and  a  brighter  beacon-light  to  this  generation  groping 
in  mist, — are  the  God-fearing,  godly  families,  in  which  an  old- 
fashioned  piety  is  still  practiced,  and  the  Heavenly  Father  is 


BISHOP  OF  NEW  HAMPSHIRE.  139 

openly  recognized  every  day,  and  his  Son  our  Redeemer,  and  the 
Life-giving  Spirit. 

Difficulties,  and  some  of  them  grave,  this  twentieth  century 
presents,  and  ugly  obstacles  to  a  satisfactory  having  of  family 
■worship.  Partly  the  rush  of  modern  life  in  general,  and  the 
complexity  of  that  life  is  responsible,  partly  the  railway  train 
-which  takes  away  the  head  of  the  family  at  some  exceedingly 
early  hour.  And  much  is  most  inconvenient.  But  none  will  be 
a.  well-grown  or  a  useful  Christian  upon  earth  who  does  onlv  what 
is  "  convenient."  "  The  line  of  greatest  resistance,"  not  that  of 
least  resistance,  is  often  that  against  which  a  brave  man  brings 
his  forces.  "  Needless  softness  and  self-indulgence  "  is  just  as 
poor  a  thing  to-day  as  it  was  when  John  Wesley  wrote  his  solid 
precepts.  The  man  who  will  usually  can  have  some  measure  of 
worship  in  his  family.  If  twice  each  day  be  impossible,  once  is 
far  better  than  nothing.  If  he  cannot  gather  the  household 
flock  and  be  with  them  in  the  morning,  perhaps  he  can  do  it 
in  the  evening;  if  the  evening  be  impossible  for  him,  he  may  do 
it  in  the  morning.  If  the  man  must  leave  his  home  before  chil- 
dren can  be  had  for  prayers,  and  returns  too  late  at  night, 
whether  always  or.  some  days,  then  the  mother  should  have  the 
devotions,  and  thus  both  serve  God  and  let  the  child  see  that 
to  serve  God  is  a  vital  matter,  not  to  be  lightly  put  to  one 
side. 

I  remember  to  have  taken  up  a  book  in  England,  five  or  six 
years  ago,  having  the  title  "  Some  Lost  Things  in  Eeligion." 
Prominent  among  these  "things"  stood  "family  worship."  I 
think  the  book  came  from  Scotland;  yet  one  fears  that  some 
ground  for  the  reproach  can  be  found  in  England.  It  is  to  me 
a  joy  to  bear  witness  that,  while  in  England.  I  have  been  a  guest 
in  homes  from  that  of  high  nobility  to  that  of  a  tenant  farmer, 
yet  I  was  never  in  a  home  in  which  the  family  were  not  every 
morning  brought  together  for  their  worship.  It  is  a  deep  grief 
that  I  cannot  bear  such  unvarying  testimony  concerning  America. 

I  sometimes  ask  myself  whether  I.  as  their  bishop,  have  as 
strongly  as  I  ought  to  have  done  admonished  my  brethren,  the 
pastors  of  the  flock,  to  bring  home  this  duty,  in  its  large  bearings 
and  its  unyielding  obligation,  upon  all  the  people.  Godless 
homes,  semi-godless  homes,  will  yield  a  generation  of  worthless 
citizens  and  of  lost  souls. 

A  bright  young  friend  of  mine,  a  communicant  in  the  Church, 
educated  at  a  Christian  school  and  a  Christian  college,  a  very 
active  man  of  business,  speaking  with  me  in  Massachusetts 
recently,  said  that  in  his  acquaintance  family  prayers  were  a 
thing  unknown,  and  that  with  grace  at  meals  the  case  was  almost, 
but  not  quite,  as  bad. 

On  the  other  hand,  some  young  lawyers  and  others  in  secular 
life  whom  I  know,  reared  in  families  in  which  nothing  was  per- 
mitted to  overturn  the  daily  worship  at  home,  in  building  their 


140        church's  methods  to  the  needs  of  the  centukt. 

beautiful  houses  were  careful  to  have  one  convenient  room  con- 
structed and  set  apart  for  the  sole  worship  of  the  God  of  all 
the  families  in  the  land.  ,      ,,    . 

If  not  more  is  attempted  than  can  be  carried  through,  that 
helps  matters.  Not  long  ago  I  chanced  to  be  staying  with  a  jus- 
tice of  the  supreme  court  of  his  State— a  singularly  able  and 
brilliant  man.  Duties  compelled  him  very  often  to  go  from 
home  by  an  early  train.  It  was  not  so  early,  however,  as  to  forbid 
breakfast  with  the  family.  Those  hurried  days  this  was  done: 
when  gathered  at  the  table  a  sentence  of  Scripture  was  said; 
then,  all  kneeling,  the  Lord's  Prayer  was  used  and  one  Collect, 
that  for  the  day,  or  the  Collect  for  Direction,  and  the  Grace,  or, 
the  Benediction  in  the  Office  of  the  Visitation  of  the  Sick,  changed 
to  form  of  a  prayer:  "Unto  God's  gracious  mercy  and  protec- 
tion we  now  commit  ourselves." 

Manv  books  of  prayers  for  use  in  the  family  are,  like  Bishop 
Coxe's '"  Covenant  Prayers."  arranged  for  each  day,  in  groups 
of  several  prayers,  one  of  which  can  be  used,  or  two  or  three, 
but  not  necessarily  all  at  any  one  time.  Or,  some  book  of 
prayers  on  the  plan  of  Bishop  Wainwright's  "  Short  Prayers  for 
Family  Use,"  but  rather  better  suited,  perhaps,  otherwise  than 
this  particular  book,  can  be  commended  to  those  who  make  in- 
quiries of  their  minister.  Indeed  the  minister,  one  would  think, 
might  very  well  make  it  a  point  to  speak  to  his  families,  one  and 
another,  of  some  book  suited  to  each,  or  show  them  in  general 
some  course  of  worship  suited  to  each  individual  household. 

Whether  much  Scripture  can  be  read  or  but  little,  whether 
a  hymn  can  be  sung,  and  all  such  details  must  adjust  themselves 
to  the  conditions  ruling  under  each  roof.  Neither  the  needs  nor 
the  temper  of  these  times  make  long  prayers  desirable,  especially 
when  children  have  to  be  considered. 

When  and  where  the  excellent  ideal  and  rule  of  the  Church  can 
be  reached  of  Daily  Morning  and  Evening  Prayer,  and  when  the 
church  is  not  far  removed  from  the  home  of  the  family,  is  it 
right  and  best  to  let  this  service  wholly  take  the  place  as  a  sub- 
stitute of  worship  in  the  family?  For  myself,  and  no  ways  rais- 
ing the  question  which  is  the  -greater,  I  do  not  think  this  a  good 
and  sufficient  cause.  In  the  offices  of  the  Prayer  Book,  as  these 
are  had  in  church,  a  certain  element  of  home  is  lacking,  and  ought 
to  be.  Then,  almost  always,  members  of  the  family  cannot  be 
all  at  church,  and  so  must  lose  some  part  of  their  social  worship 
if  and  whenever  any  day's  worship  at  the  home  is  omitted. 

And  it  may  be  very  justly  questioned,  I  think,  whether  Sunday's 
services,  though  larger  and  higher  far,  be  quite  a  substitute  of 
such  sort  as  to  make  it  best  on  that  day  ordinarily  to  omit  the 
family  prayers. 

"  "WHiere  there's  a  will  there's  a  way."  If  the  purpose  be  a 
resolute  one,  almost  every  family  can,  even  in  these  rushing  days, 
find  some  way  of  lifting  this  worship  of  the  family,  as  a  family. 


BISHOP    OF    NEW    HAMPSHIRE.  141 

into  a  place  of  some  dignity,  much  to  the  honoring  of  God,  and 
to  their  own  spiritual  good. 

Three  families  rise  before  me  at  this  moment,  all  made  np  of 
members  having  deep  piety,  a  very  high  character,  and  of  much 
refinement  of  soul.  In  one,  the  head,  a  physician  greatly  beloved, 
to  whom  more  than  one  large  school  owes  its  existence,  a  man 
much  further  advanced  in  years  than  I,  came  home  from  his  early 
service  in  church,  and  took  up  his  family  prayers  bv  the  time  that 
the  guests  and  others  of  the  family  had  gathered.  In  another 
home  in  the  city  of  Boston,  in  everything  one  of  the  purest  and 
best,  it  chanced  one  morning  that  those  of  the  family  who  were 
not  absent  were  so  indisposed  as  to  keep  their  roorn.  When  I 
came,  unexpected  and  late,  to  the  door  of  the  library,  this  noble, 
high-bred  Christian  scholar  and  man  was  at  the  accustomed  place, 
read  his  Bible,  sang  the  hymn  with  his  own  accompaniment  at 
the  organ,  and  knelt  in  prayers  in  the  family's  name. 

The  other  beautiful  home  on  which  my  heart  loves  to  dwell  had 
it  for  the  custom  to  have  for  the  household,  with  such  servants 
as  could  be  present,  very  short  prayers  in  the  dining-room  before 
breakfast. _  Then  a  little  later  in'  the  morning  (there  was  not 
daily  service  at  church)  the  man  and  his  wife,  being  persons  of 
leisure,  with  any  who  could  be  free  to  join  them,  in  some  room 
a  bit  retired  read  the  Psalter,  and  both  lessons,  with  at  least  two 
or  three  of  the  prayers. 

Of  each  of  those  three  men  everyone  who  knew  him  would 
bear  witness  that,  beyond  all  question,  he  walked  with  God.  And 
our  people  can  be  assured  that  if' they  plod  on  dutifully,  in  all 
pious  ways,  when  thev  shall  have  finished  their  course  and  done 
their  work,  they  shall  be  refreshed  in  the  Paradise  of  God;  shall 
rise  in  the  Eesurrection  of  the  Blessed,  and  shall  come  all  before 
the  glorious  throne  on  high,  with  one  heart  to  adore  the  common 
Saviour  of  us  all. 

At  the  end,  my  brethren,  this  one  suggestion  I  will  offer: 
Might  we  not,  perhaps,  charge  our  clergy  with  some  earnestness, 
of  the  value  of  this  and  all  like  acts  of  a  humble,  daily  piety? 
For  myself  I  mean  to  bear  down  more  strongly  than  I  have  done 
in  dealing  with  clergy  and  people  upon  this  both  helpful  and 
blessed  privilege,  that  through  my  small  diocese  "  family  wor- 
ship "  may  not  be  one  of  the  "  Lost  Things  in  Religion.'' 


142         church's  methods  to  the  needs  of  the  century. 


FEIDAY  AFTERNOON. 
Eighth  Topic. 

THE   ADAPTATION   OF   THE   CHURCH'S  METHODS   TO 

THE  NEEDS   OF  THE   CENTURY, 
rb)  TO  MEET  RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES.-OBSERVANCE 
^^      OF  THE  LORD'S  DAY  AND  FAMILY  WORSHIP. 

Second  Paper. 
The  Right  Rev.  Frederick  Courtney,  D.D., 

BISHOP  OF  NOVA  SCOTIA. 

In  order  to  state  this  subject  so  as  to  discuss  it  profitably,  it  is 
necessary,  first,  to  set  out  what  are  the  Church's  methods  for  the 
observance  of  the  Lord's  Day.  It  will  not,  I  suppose,  be  disputed 
that  the  Church's  one  method  is  to  put  forth  services  of  divme 
worship  and  to  invite  the  faithful  to  come  together  and  join  in 
them  They  are,  first.  Morning  Prayer,  with  the  Litany;  second, 
Holy  Communion;  third.  Evening  Prayer.  There  is  also  pro- 
vision for  a  sermon  to  be  preached  in  the  second  service,  ihis 
method  has  by  common  consent  been  so  far  adapted  to  the  needs 
of  the  present  day  as  that  the  second  service  is  frequently  said 
first  without  a  sermon;  the  first  service  is  said  second,  with  a 
sermon;  the  Litany  is  said  by  itself  at  various  times;  and  Evening 
Prayer  is  frequently  shortened,  but  has  a  sermon  added  to  it 
for  "which  there  is  no  provision  in  the  Book  of  (*ommon  Prayer. 

There  is  an  enactment  also  in  the  Church  in  the  United  States 
of  America  that,  "  On  any  day  when  IMorning  and  Evening  Prayer 
shall  have  been  said,  or  are  to  be  said  in  Church,  the  minister 
may,  at  any  other  service  for  which  no  form  is  provided,  use  such 
devotions  as  he  shall  at  his  discretion  select  from  this  Book,  sub- 
ject to  the  direction  of  the  Ordinary";  so  that  the  method  of 
that  Church  is  to  make  provision  for  services  in  addition  to  those 
prescribed  by  the  other  Churches  with  which  she  is  in  Com- 
munion. In  practice,  the  Church  assembles  the  children  in  Sun- 
day Schools,  and  the  youth  in  Bible  classes,  and  invites  those 
who  think  themselves  qualified  to  teach. 

The  Church's  method  has  been  to  recite  once  every  Sunday 
the  Mosaic  Decalogue,  and  in  her  Articles  has  asserted  that  "  No 
Christian  man  whatsoever  is  free  from  the  obedience  of  the  Com- 
mandments which  are  called  Moral  ";  and  this  would  appear  to 
indicate  that  the  Church  holds  the  principle  embodied  in  the 
Fourth  Commandment  to  be  applical)le  to  the  observance  of 
the  Lord's  Day — seeing  that,  while  she  does  not  and  never  has 
observed  the  Sabbath,  she  recites  its  law  and  prays  that  our  hearts 


BISHOP  OF  NOVA  SCOTIA.  143 

may  be  inclined  to  keep  it,  a  practice  which  can  be  exempted 
from  the  charge  of  inconsistency  only  by  putting  the  Lord's  Day 
in  the  Sabbath's  place,  and  making  the  due  observance  of  the 
former  a  sufficient  reason  for  the  non-observance  of  the  latter. 
It  follows,  therefore,  that  the  Church's  method  with  regard  to 
the  observance  of  the  Lord's  Day  is  to  recite  to  her  people  the 
Fourth  Commandment,  and  to  declare  that  "no  Christian  man 
whatsoever  is  free  from  the  obedience"  due  to  it. 

The  same  conclusion  may  be  reached  in  another  way,  viz.,  by 
asserting  that  the  true  definition  of  law  is  that  it  .is  the  declara- 
tion of  the  duties  arising  out  of  right  relationship,  and  there- 
fore that  the  principles  contained  in  what  is  called  the  "  moral 
law  "  are  as  enduring  as  the  relationship  between  God  and  man, 
and  between  man  and  his  neighbor.  And  if  this  be  admitted, — 
and  I  do  not  see  how  it  can  reasonably  be  denied, — it  will  neces- 
sarily follow  that  the  principle  involved  in  the  Fourth  Com- 
mandment is  of  perpetual  obligation,  whether  the  one  day  in 
seven  be  at  the  end  or  at  the  beginning  of  the  week;  and  the 
sanction  for  the  due  observance  of  the  one  can  be  claimed  for 
the  due  observance  of  the  other,  and  it  never  can  be  right  to 
cease  yielding  obedience  to  a  law  which  prescribes  a  duty  arising 
out  of  the  relationship  between  God  and  man  so  long  as  both 
continue  in  such  relationship.  It  has  been  pointed  out  that  there 
are  four  reasons  given  in  the  Old  Testament  for  the  observance 
of  the  Sabbath :  First,  as  a  remembrance  of  creation  (a  reminder 
also  of  the  requirement  of  six  days'  work  as  well  as  of  the  seventh 
day's  rest):  second,  as  a  lesson  of  humanity — "that  thy  man- 
servant and  thy  maid-servant  may  rest  as  well  as  thee  ";  third, 
in  commemoration  of  the  deliverance  from  Egypt.  "  The  Lord 
thy  God  brought  thee  out  .  .  .  therefore  the  Lord  thy  God 
hath  commanded  thee  to  keep  the  Sabbath  day  ";  fourth,  to  be 
a  sign  between  God  and  man.  "  Moreover,  I  gave  them  the 
Sabbath  to  be  a  sign  between  me  and  them,  that  they  might 
know  that  I  am  the  Lord  that  sanctify  them."  It  is  claimed 
that  all  these  are  just  as  good  for  the  observance  of  the  Lord's 
Day,  the  third  (the  deliverance  from  Egypt)  being  only  the  his- 
torical prefigurement  of  the  greater  and  more  blessed  deliverance 
of  His  people  from  the  bondage  to  sin  and  Satan. 

It  might  be  argued,  and  reasonably  so,  that  as  our  Lord,  in 
speaking  of  the  Sixth  and  Seventh  Commandments,  showed  them 
to  have  a  far  deeper  significance  than  had  been  attached  to  them 
before;  and  therefore,  to  be  the  more  necessary  to  be  observed, 
we  should  say  the  same  regarding  the  Fourth;  and,  indeed,  if  what 
I  have  laid  down  above  is  admitted,  and  therefore  it  is  seen  that 
the  moral  law  is  not  the  declaration  of  the  arbitrary  will  of  an 
irresponsible  power,  but  the  revelation  of  duties  inhering  in 
relationship,  one  could  hardly  avoid  seeing  that  not  the  abro-. 
gation  of  the  law,  but  a  better  understanding  of  its  meaning  and 
a  more  perfect   obedience  to  its  requirements,   are  what   is  de- 


144         church's  methods  to  the  needs  of  the  century. 

manded  of  us.  We  must  recognize  the  fact  that  God  continues 
to  claim  one-seventh  of  our  time,  not  only  that  we  and  our  ser- 
vants alike  may  rest,  but  that  we  may  remember  Him,  may  there- 
fore come  together  to  worship  Him,  and  make  it  altogether  a  holy 
day. 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  Church  herself  is  an  ideal  con- 
ception,— "  a  glorious  Church,  not  having  spot  or  wrinkle  or  any 
such  thing,  holy,  and  without  blemish";  in  it  "every  building, 
fitly  framed  together,  groweth  into  an  holy  temple  in  the  land"; 
its  "  lively  stones  are  built  up  a  spiritual  house,  an  holy  priest- 
hood to  offer  up  spiritual  sacrifices,  acceptable  to  God  by  Jesus 
Christ."  Its  people  "  are  a  chosen  generation,  a  royal  priest- 
hood, a  holy  nation,  a  people  of  God's  own  possession  ";  they  are 
predestinate,  called.  Justified,  glorified;  are  raised  up  together 
and  made  to  sit  together  in  heavenly  places  in  Christ  Jesus. 
Therefore  her  methods  are  ideal  methods,  and  her  doctrine  is 
an  ideal  doctrine — and  this  with  regard  to  the  observance  of  the 
Lord's  Day  as  with  regard  to  everything  else. 

I  proceed  to  suggest  to  you  an  ideal  family  observance  of  the 
Lord's  Day.  The  parents,  who  will  have  reminded  one  another 
on  Saturday  night  that  the  Lord's  Day  is  at  hand,  will  awake 
with  their  thoughts  full  of  the  Kesurrection  of  Jesus  Christ,  and 
therefore  ready  to  give  thanks  for  their  present  resurrection  in 
Him  and  their  future  resurrection  at  His  glorious  appearing, 
when  the  body  of  our  humiliation  shall  be  fashioned  after  the 
body  of  His  glory.  The  consciousness  of  the  arrival  of  the  day, 
when  toil  is  for  the  time  done  with  and  rest  is  enjoyed,  will  cause 
them  to  anticipate  the  coming  of  the  time  when  all  toil  shall 
be  ended  and  the  rest  which  remaineth  for  the  people  of  God 
shall  be  entered  upon.  They  vnW  be  full  of  the  expectation  of 
spiritual  refreshment  when  the  soul,  worn  with  the  whole  week's 
contact  with  the  things  which  are  seen  and  temporal,  can  gaze 
upon  those  which  are  unseen  and  eternal.  In  the  conflict  with 
temptation  and  possibly  the  yielding  to  it  in  some  instances,  or 
the  surging  up  of  old  sinful  desires,  they  are  Jaded,  and  their 
hearts  have  been  saddened;  but  to-day  is  a  new  opportunity  for 
beginning  again  the  new  life  which  is  due  to  the  indwelling  of 
the  Spirit  of  God, 

"  New  perils  passeiJ.  new  sins  forgiven. 
New  thoughts  of  God.  new  hopes  of  heaven." 

Then  there  will  be  the  holy,  happy  thought  of  God,  of  His  near- 
ness to  them,  of  His  goodness  towards  them,  shown  in  many  ways 
both  of  providence  and  o^f  grace. 

And  when  they  come  downstairs  it  will  be  with  a  strong 
desire  to  make  this  blessed  day  a  happy  day  for  the  children. 
Family  worship  will  place  them  together,  as  a  family,  at  God's 
feet,  and  the  spirit  of  adoption  will  plead  in  them  before  their 


BISHOP  OF  NOVA   SCOTIA.  145 

Father's   face.      Solemnized,   but   with   hearts   enjoying   a    deep, 
interior  peace,  they  go  all  together  to  God's  house,  and, 

"  Passed  within  the  Church's  door, 
Where  poor  are  rich  and  rich  are  poor, 
They  say  tlie  prayer  and  liear  the  word 
Which  thus  our  fathers  said  and  heard, 
Or  representing  solemn  wise 
Our  allTprevaillng  sacrifice, 
They  feed  in  joint  communion  high 
The  life  that  lives  eternally." 

I  cannot  hear  quoting  a  few  more  lines : 

"  'Tis  something  that  we  kneel  and  pray 
With  loved  ones  near  or  far  away; 
One  God,  one  faith,  one  hope,  one  care, 
One  form  of  words,  one  hour  of  prayer: 
Something  that  such  high  tryst  we  keep 
With  souls  that  'neath  Christ's  altars  sleep, 
Till  through  the  veil,  by  glimpses  dim. 
The  blessM  lost  are  found  in  Him.  ' 

Neither  is  it  all  worship  for  my  ideal  family,  but  the  sermon  is 
listened  to  and  something  learned  from  it — not  seldom  the  word 
coming  home  with  convincing,  or  convicting,  or  comforting,  or 
guiding  power,  so  that  a  message  has  been  received  from  Grod  which 
is  food  for  the  soul  that  waiteth  for  Him.  Then,  when  returned 
from  church,  the  sermon  will  be  talked  over,  and  various  parts  of 
Holy  Scripture  consulted,  and  the  children  will  be  questioned  to 
see  whether  they  have  also  been  fed,  and  to  exercise  their 
memories,  to  keep  them  interested  in  the  things  which  belong 
to  their  peace,  and  train  them  in  the  habit  of  listening  to  what 
is  said,  by  God's  minister,  in  His  Name.  At  such  a  family's 
€arly  dinner-table  there  will  be  some  one  or  more  of  those  who 
are  poorer  than  they  who  will  be  invited  even  as  Jesus  was 
Idj  the  Pharisees,  who  asked  Him  to  dinner  on  the  Sabbath  Day. 
In  the  afternoon,  as  Jesus  worked  miracles  of  healing  for  the 
sick  and  distressed,  so  these  will  go  and  visit  such  that  they 
may  bring  some  little  brightness  into  their  pained  lives,  or  a  call 
will  be  made  upon  some  who  are  in  sorrow  that  the  comfort 
wherewith  they  themselves  are  comforted  of  God  may  be  minis- 
tered to  those  "who  so  sorely  need  it.  And  when  the  close  of  the 
■day  is  reached  they  will  ail  have  a  better  and  fuller  knowledge 
of  those  Scriptures  which  makes  a  man  wise  unto  salvation 
through  faith  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  this  hope  of  heaven 
-will  be  more  assured  as  they  lay  them  down  to  rest  in  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  guardianship  of  Him  who  is  "  the  God  of  all 
the  families  of  Israel." 

Human  life  would  indeed  be  but  a  poor  thing  were  it  robbed  of 
its  ideals,  and  there  would  be  a  fearful  cessation  of  moral  and 
spiritual  effort  if  those  ideals  should  disappear  from  man's  vision, 
and  there  were  none  to  bring  them  back  to  make  them  glow 


146         chubch's  methods  to  the  needs  of  the  century. 

with  their  pristine  radiance  and  their  alluring  promise.  It  is  the 
dut}^  of  the  Church  to  see  her  ideal  condition  as  held  up  before 
her  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  in  her  turn  to  teach  ideal  doctrine 
and  put  forth  ideal  methods  before  her  children  and  urge  them 
to  realize  them  in  practice;  nor  do  I  think  it  ought  to  be  difficult 
to  tind  in  every  large  city  in  the  land  several  families  who  repro- 
duce the  ideal  observance  of  the  Lord's  Day  in  their  own  conduct 
and  experience. 

Nevertheless,  this  is  far  from  being  the  case  generally.  I  quote 
the  words  of  England's  Prime  Minister  in  his  recent  speech  at 
Glasgow,  upon  a  very  diflferent  subject,  but  singularly  applicable 
to  the  one  at  present  engaging  our  attention : 

"  (I  think  it  is  a  matter  for  profound  regret,  but)  after  all 
we  have  to  take  account  of  the  fact  that,  in  the  world  in  w'hich 
we  live,  neither  an  individual  nor  a  nation  can  venture  with  anv 
prospect  of  felicity  or  success  to  act  as  if  he  lived  in  an  ideal 
world,  and  not  in  the  world  which  actually  and  in  fact  surrounds 
him." 

If  that  means  anything  it  means  that  he  is  a  wise  man  and 
that  a  wise  nation  which,  holding  his  inner  gaze  fixed  upon  the 
entrancing  vision  of  the  ideal,  looks  around  upon  the  actual  con- 
dition of  men  and  things  to  ascertain  what  measures  are  necessary 
in  order  to  obtain  a  nearer  approximation  of  the  ideal  than  has 
been  at  present  reached.  Surely  this  is  the  reason  why  (to 
glance  for  a  moment  at  another  matter)  Moses,  having  written 
of  the  primal  law  of  marriage,  later  on  quoted  and  emphasized 
by  Christ,  yet  "  for  the  hardness  of  their  hearts  suffered  them  to 
put  away  their  wives  ";  for  so  it  was  also  regarding  the  ideal  law 
of  the  Sabbath.  Strictly  interpreted  (as  it  was  by  the  later 
teachers  of  the  Jews),  not  a  single  thing  might  one  do,  and  if  it 
were  possible  for  Moses  on  more  than  one  occasion  to  fast  for 
forty  days  continuously,  it  were  surely  possible  for  the  whole 
people  to  refrain  from  food  for  twenty-four  hours  each  week;  but, 
"  Save  that  which  every  man  must  eat;  this  only  mav  be  done  of 
you."  "  Have  ye  not  read  in  the  law%"  said  'our  Lord,  "  how 
that  on  the  Sabbath  day  the  priests  in  the  temple  profane  the 
Sabbath  and  are  guiltless." 

It  ought  indeed  to  be  noted  that  our  Lord's  action  with  regard 
to  the  Sabbath  was  not  a  setting  of  Himself  against  it,  but 
against  those  commandments  and  traditions  of  men  which  had 
turned  that  which  had  been  given  by  God  as  a  blessing  and  a 
freedom  into  a  curse  and  a  bondage;  "still,  those  actions  seem  to 
have  been  in  the  direction  of  accommodating  practice  to  that 
which  was  possible  under  the  existing  conditions  of  His  time- 
Yet,  it  may  not  unreasonably  be  argued  that  He  was  disinterring, 
from  among  the  heaps  of  rubbish  'of  man's  laborious  accumula- 
tion, the  original  lines  of  the  rightful  observance  of  the  Sab- 
bath. He  declares  it  is  nothing  less  than  lawful  to  do  good  on 
the  Sabbath  Day,  that  "  the  Sabbath  was  made  for  man,  and  not 


BISHOP  OF  NOVA  SCOTIA.  147 

man  for  the  Sabbath,"  and  asserts  that  "  the  Son  of  man  is  Lord 
even  of  the  Sabbath  Day."  This  hist  may  be  taken  to  mean  that 
man's  necessifies  are  to  be  ministered  to  before  the  strict  obedi- 
ence of  the  law  of  the  Sabbath.  If  so,  it  becomes  a  principle  by 
which  the  Church  is  to  be  governed  in  dealing  with  the  adapta- 
tion of  her  methods  to  the  needs  of  the  twentieth  century  in 
the  matter  of  the  observance  of  the  Lord's  Day. 

We  see  clearly  that  God  has  been  pleased  to  teach  the  many 
through  individuals  to  whom  He  has  revealed  His  truth  and  His 
will.  Abraham,  Moses,  the  judge,  the  prophet,  St.  John  the  Bap- 
tist, and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  Himself  are  the  most  notable 
instances  of  this.  But  not  only  so,  the  truth  so  communicated, 
the  will  or  law  so  made  known,  when  embodied  in  a  system,  which 
preserved  its  integrity,  and  held  the  ideal  up  before  the  con- 
science of  the  people,  was  nevertheless  perceived  and  obeyed  only 
by  the  few.  We  have  three  notable  instances  of  this:  the  cere- 
monial law,  the  law  of  the  tithes,  and  the  law  of  the  Sabbath. 
Hence  it  follows  that  while  the  Christian  Church  maintains 
before  the  conscience  of  the  faithful  the  ideal  observance  of 
the  Lord's  Day,  and  makes  allowance  for  the  lawful  exceptions- 
to  its  strict  and  literal  demands,  she  also  shall  not  be  discouraged 
at  finding  that  only  a  minority  in  the  community  try  to  attain 
to  that  ideal  observance,  nor  despair  of  the  arrival  of  the  day 
when  the  ideal  shall  be  realized,  and  all  shall  enjoy  their  weekly 
day  of  rest,  and  spend  it  in  the  worship  of  God  and  communion 
with  Him  in  whose  honor  it  is  named. 

In  the  meantime  it  becomes  her  to  say  what  adaptation  of 
her  methods  to  the  needs  of  the  age  are  needful  or  advisable. 
Looking  back,  we  see  a  time  when  no  blast  furnaces  were  in 
operation  for  the  melting  of  tons  of  iron  ore,  and  no  pumping 
engines  employed  for  keeping  a  mine  clear  of  water,  when  no 
complicated  machinery,  carelessly  used  during  the  week,  de- 
manded repair  on  the  Day  of  Eest,  when  no  stokers  sweated 
before  the  furnaces  of  an  ocean-going  steamship,  and  there  were 
no  railways  for  the  rapid  conveyance  of  perishable  foods  for  long- 
distances  for  the  necessities  of  great  cities  inhabited  by  millions, 
when  no  vessels  carrying  a  thousand  or  two  of  passengers  reached 
their  destination  on  the  Lord's  Day  and  necessity  demanded  at- 
tention to  their  wants  and  distribution  in  various  directions 
immediately.  These  are  but  suggestions  of  a  change,  every  part 
of  which  has  come  upon  the  nations  during  the  century  which 
has  so  recently  closed,  and  of  conditions  which  demand  of  the- 
Church  that  she  shall  adapt  the  methods  of  her  observance 
of  the  Lord's  Day  to  the  actual  necessities  of  man,  as  those  have 
been  developed  by  this  rapid  change. 

Might  not  the  Church  make  it  one  of  her  methods  to  endeavor 
to  secure  by  her  corporate  action  the  exclusions  from  the  list  of 
so-called  necessary  works  of  those  which  are  not  really  so,  and 
the  reduction  of  the  hours  of  really  necessary  work  to  a  minimum. 


148         church's  methods  to  the  needs  of  the  century. 

seeking  that  as  many  as  possible  shall  be  free  to  take  part  in 
:some  public  worship  "^of  God  on  Sunday,  and  that  all  shall  have 
some  one  dav  of  rest  in  the  course  of  every  week? 

It  is  claimed  that,  in  the  present  day,  work  is  so  continuous 
and  laborious  that  the  Lord's  Day  must  be  taken  for  phiy  and 
.amusement.  In  the  first  place,  I  do  not  admit  the  correctness  of 
the  statement  regarding  the  unending  work.  As  far  as  book- 
keepers and  counting-house  clerks  go.  I  remember  the  time  well 
enough  in  my  own  experience  when  there  was  no  closing  of  offices 
on  Saturday  afternoon  at  two  o'clock,  while  now,  in  some  places  at 
least,  the  banks  close  on  that  day  at  noon,  while,  on  other  week 
■days,  work  does  not  begin  before  nine  o'clock  and  is  ended  by  six; 
sometimes  by  five  o'clock.  Then  again  in  many  trades  and  occu- 
pations the  tendency  is  towards  shortening  the  hours  of  labor,  and 
the  eight-hour  day  is  being  claimed  for  most  departments,  and 
in  several  is  conceded. 

But,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  let  the  statement  as  to  the 
nature  and  continuity  of  the  worker's  task  be  admitted.  Then 
the  Church's  method  would  surely  be  to  place  clearly  before  her 
■children  that  their  first  duty  is  the  public  worship  of  God,  and 
that  when  God  demands  this^  or  any  other  thing  from  us.  He  does 
it,  not  because  it  is  easy  for  us  to  comply,  but  because  it  is  right. 
And,  further,  recreation  on  the  Lord's  Day  ought  in  its  nature  to 
be  recreative  and  to  be  engaged  in  with  the  thought  of  God 
prominent,  and  His  presence  sanctifying  it. 

As  regards  the  weekly  toilers  who  dwell  in  large  cities,  and  who 
must  cover  some  mile&  before  they  can  reach  the  country,  the 
use  of  street  cars  and  excursion  trains  is  a  necessity  and  is 
■only  the  employment  of  the  few  for  the  sake  of  the  many;  pro- 
vided the  recreation  or  excursion  be  itself  admitted  to  be  a  lawful 
thing  for  them  on  the  Lord's  Day. 

The  same  may  be  said  of  Sunday  dinners  at  Sherry's  in  New 
York,  or  the  Casino  in  Newport,  in  either  of  which  places  there 
are  probably  fewer  persons  employed  to  cook  and  serve  the 
viands  than  would  be  if  all  the  parties  were  given  in  private 
houses — if  only  it  be  conceded  by  the  Church  that  Sunday  dinner 
parties  are  lawful — but,  "  there's  the  rub." 

I  have  before  in  this  paper  pointed  out  that  the  principle  of  the 
Fourth  Commandment  governs  the  observance  of  the  Lord's  Day, 
it  is  necessary  therefore  at  all  ages  and  under  all  circumstances 
for  the  Church  to  call  upon  her  children  to  "  Remember  the  day 
to  keep  it  holy." 

After  all,  what  is  needed  is  for  people  to  know  by  their  own 
experience  something  of  the  knowledge-passing  love  of  Christ, 
and  of  that  of  the  Father  in  giving  Him  up  for  us  all :  for  until 
they  do  they  are  apt  to  say  of  the  worship  of  God — "  What  a 
weariness  is  it!  "  And  those  who  know  it  not,  and  are  engaged  in 
business,  will  say,  as  of  old — "  When  will  the  new  moon  be  gone 
that  we  may  sell  corn,  and  the  Sabbath  that  we  may  set  forth 


BISHOP  OF  NOVA   SCOTIA.  149 

■wheat!"  And  never  will  they  be  able  to  say  in  truth,  "  I  was  glad 
when  they  said  unto  me,  let  us  go  into  the  house  of  the  Lord  " — 
or,  "  Lord,  I  have  loved  the  haljitation  of  thy  house,  and  the 
place  where  thine  honor  dwelleth."  All  kinds  of  excuses  will  they 
make  to  seize  upon  its  holy  hours  for  their  own  pleasure,  and  rob 
Ood  of  the  time  as  they  do  of  the  tithes  which  He  requires  of 
them. 

Let  this  ideal  become  the  actual,  and  that  generally,  and  the 
words  of  the  old  Jewish  prophet  would  find  a  modern  fulfillment. 
"  If  thou  turn  away  thy  foot  from  the  Sabbath,  from  doing  thy 
pleasure  on  my  holy  day;  and  call  the  Sabbath  a  delight,  the  holy 
of  the  Lord,  honorable:  and  shalt  honor  Him,  not  doing  thine 
own  ways,  nor  finding  thine  own  pleasure,  nor  speaking  thine  own 
words:  Then  shalt  thou  delight  thyself  in  the  Lord:  and  I  will 
cause  thee  to  ride  upon  the  liigh  places  of  the  earth,  and  feed 
thee  with  the  heritage  of  Jacob  thy  father:  for  the  mouth  of  the 
Lord  hath  spoken  it." 


150         church's  methods  to  the  needs  of  the  century. 


SATUEDAY  MORNING. 

Seventh  Topic. 

THE   ADAPTATION   OF  THE   CHUECH'S   METHODS   TO 
THE    NEEDS    OF    THE    CENTUEY. 

(c)   THE  INCULCATION  OF  POLITICAL  AND  COMMEE- 

CIAL  MOEALITY  AND  THE  MAINTENANCE  OF 

HIGH  IDEALS. 

General  Paper. 
The  Right  Rev.  Hknry  Codman  Potter,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

bishop  of  new  YORK. 

In  the  Imperial  Library  in  Paris  is  an  infinitely  precious  manu- 
script, which,  I  hope  I  shall  not  be  accounted  profane  if  I  say, 
is  made  precious,  most  of  all,  not  by  its  text  but  by  its  illustra- 
tions. The  text  is  that  of  the  Sermons  of  Gregory  of  Nazianza: 
the  illustrations,  which  are  miniature  paintings,  are  mainly  of 
subjects  taken  from  the  Old  and  New  Testaments. 

The  most  remarkable  of  these  illustrations  represents  the 
Second  Ecumenical  Council  held  at  Constantinople  in  a.  d.  381, 
in  which  Gregory  of  Nazianza  took  part.  It  represents  the  seats  of 
the  bishops  as  arranged  in  a  semicircle  around  a  throne;  but,  so 
far  as  any  individual  prelate  is  concerned,  the  throne  is  vacant.  It 
is  cushioned  with  a  purple  velvet  pillow,  and  upon  this  rests  a  large- 
open  book, — the  Bible, — thus  signifying  that  the  Holy  Scriptures 
alone  are  allowed  to  preside  over  the  Council,  and  that  these  alone 
must  exercise  supreme  judicial  authority  in  all  controverted 
questions. 

The  historian  from  whom  I  take  these  facts  goes  on  to  say, 
"  The  painter  did  not  invent  this  scene.  He  did  nothing  but 
depict  what  occurred.  We  know  this  from  the  testimony  of  Cyril. 
Patriarch  of  Alexandria,  who,  when  writing  of  the  third  Ecu- 
menical Council,  held  at  Ephesus  in  a.  d.  431,  says,  'The  Holy 
Synod  met  in  St.  Mary's  Church.  The  presidency  was  given  to 
Christ  Himself,  for  the  Gospel  of  God  reposed  on  the  throne,  and 
seemed  to  say  to  the  members  of  the  holy  assembly,  '  Be  Just  in 
your  Judgments.' " 

I  have  been  unable  to  learn  that  any  such  usage  obtained  in 
the  recent  Council  of  Cardinals  in  Eonie;  but,  if  it  did,  it  gives 
is  an  interesting  clew  to  its  singular  wisdom  in  choosing  a  peasant 
for  a  Pope. 

And  indeed,  whether  it  did  or  not,  it  may  well  indicate  to  us 
our  wisest  point  of  departure  in  the  discussion  which  I  have  been 
asked  to  initiate.     It  would  lead  me  too  far  afield  if  here  I  under- 


BISHOP  OF  NEW  YORK.  151 

took  to  point  out  the  influences  which  have  lowered  the  standards 
of  political  and  commercial  morality, — of  which  morality  I  am 
now  bidden  to  speak, — on  this  continent,  though  I  hope  my  Brit- 
ish brethren  will  forgive  me  if  I  say  that,  as  a  matter  o^f  fact, 
those  standards  are,  in  some  respects,"  higher  in  the  United  States 
than  in  almost  any  other  land.  One  of  the  most  enormous 
commercial  interests  of  our  time  is  the  putting  up  of  various 
food-products,  both  for  home  consumption  and  for  exportation. 
As  may  readily  be  surmised,  the  opportunity  for  adulteration  or 
for  cheap  substitutions  in  these  is  enormous;" and  an  international 
commission  of  experts  was  not  long  ago  appointed  bv  the  leading 
governments  of  the  world  to  test  these  various  food-products,  and 
to  certify  as  to  their  comparative  purity.  In  that  comparison  I 
beg  to  say  that  the  food  products,  in  cans  and  in  glass  and  the 
like,  of  the  United  States  stood  first,  and  those  of  Great  Britain 
next.  "\Miere  France,  Germany,  Holland,  and  the  rest  ranked 
need  not  be  noted  here;  but  it  was  a  significant  fact  that,  where 
the  Calvinistic  theology  had  held  sway,  the  divorce  between  loud 
professions  and  common  honesty  was  the  widest;  and  where  reli- 
gion, in  its  outward  expressions,  was  least  emotional  or  vociferous, 
the  harmony  between  label  and  contents  was  the  closest. 

There  is  a  large  suggestion  here,  if  only  we  have  eyes  to  see  it. 
Political  and  commercial  morality  are  widely  believed  to  be  things 
which  (a)  We  may  separate  from  the  ordinary  standard  of  con- 
duct, or  (&)  Which  we  may  regulate,  and  even  create,  by  the 
enactment  of  laws. 

It  is  at  this  point  that  the  example  of  Jesus  Christ  becomes  of 
supreme  value  and  that  we  find  that  His  teaching  furnishes  the 
only  law  for  our  modern  life.  He  was  a  Jew.  He  inherited,  as 
part  of  the  tradition  of  His  religion,  that  immense  network  of 
provisions  which  we  find  in  the  Book  of  Leviticus,  and  elsewhere 
in  the  Elder  Testament,  and  which  covered  the  whole  life  of  the 
Hebrew  with  a  fine  and  interlacing  web  of  precept.  He  never 
poured  contempt  upon  these  precepts,  nor  scoffed  at  those  who 
represented  and  expounded  them.  "  The  Scribes  and  Pharisees 
sit  in  Moses'  seat.  All,  therefore,  that  they  bid  you  observe,  that 
observe  and  do."  From  time  to  time,  as  on  the  Sabbath  Day, 
He  brushed  what  Bishop  Butler  has  called  ^'  positive,"  as  dis- 
tinguished from  moral  precepts,  aside,  and  lifted  obligation  into 
its  highest,  because  divinest,  lights.  But  the  whole  trend  of 
Christ's  earthly  ministry  was  in  the  direction  of  organized  eccle- 
siastical life,  of  definite  and  authoritatively  imposed  obligations; 
in  one  word,  of  system  in  religion. 

In  the  inculcation,  however,  of  that  system,  and.  though  He 
"  went  into  the  vSynagogue  on  the  Sabbath  Day,"  there  can  be 
no  smallest  doubt  as  to  what  He  held  to  be  supreme.  He  found 
a  generation  and  an  ecclesiasticism  honeycombed  with  formalism 
and  self-complacency,  and  it  is  vain  that  we  seek  to  minimize 
those  thunders  with  which  He  smote  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees 


]52         church's  methods  to  the  needs  of  the  century. 

and  theatrical  vvoKpiTOL  of  his  time.  He  saw,  with  a  divine  and 
unerring  discernment,  the  pitiful  worthlessness  of  the  washing 
of  cnps  and  platters;  and  when  He  stood  up  to  read  in  the  Syna- 
gogue at  Capernaum,  with  His  Divine  heart  aching  for  the  sor- 
rowful and  the  heavy-laden  who  were  in  vain  seeking  courage  and 
consolation  in  a  worn-out  ceremonialism.  He  read  of  One  who 
"broke  not  the  bruised  reed,  nor  quenched  the  smoking  flax,"  and 
straightway  there  dawned  upon  their  tear-clouded  eyes  who  lis- 
tened the  vision  of  a  Father  whose  religion  was  not  the  length  of  a 
phylactery  or  of  a  Sabbath-Day's  journey,  but  love  and  mercy 
and  the  eternal  righteousness! 

I  do  not  wonder  that  the  Church  has  widely  forgotten  this, 
nor  that  she  is  too  often  dumb  concerning  the  Spirit  that  ought 
to  animate  her,  the  Soul  that  ought  to  throb  beneath  the  ribs 
of  death;  and  voluble,  rather,  concerning  the  mint  and  anise 
and  cummin  with  which  to  perfume  the  ecclesiastical  carcass. 
Christianity  entered  the  world,  let  it  never  be  forgotten,  at  a 
moment  when  the  genius  of  organization,  under  the  wise  insight 
of  the  Eoman  Empire,  reigned  supreme.  The  miracle  of  an 
articulated  civilization,  which  ought  not  to  have  been  so  novel 
to  the  Hebrew,  since  it  was  only  what  Israelitish  law  had  done 
for  a  race  of  Egyptian  bondmen, — that  miracle  was  working  its 
astounding  transformations  among  Goths  and  Vandals  when 
the  Catholic  Church  began  its  campaigns  of  conquest  and 
followed  upon  the  heels  of  the  victories  of  Emperors.  Christian 
leaders  caught  the  spirit  of  the  hour;  and,  to  a  Paganism  impo- 
tent and  outworn,  as  are  Buddhism  and  Shintoism  in  China  and 
Japan  to-day,  the  new  faith  came  with  a  mighty  spell  and  glowed, 
before  long,  with  new  and  resplendent  ceremonial.  I  wish  I  had 
time  to  show  how  all  this  fitted  in  Avith  the  spirit  of  the  hour, 
and  how  inevitable  came  to  be  that  separation  of  religion  from 
the  affairs  of  common  life  which,  strangely  enough,  survived  the 
Eeformation  and  has  reappeared  in  some  of  the  religious  teach- 
ings and  fellowships  which  are  most  remote  from  Latin  Chris- 
tianity. I  began  life,  as  some  of  my  brethren  here  know,  in  a 
counting-room;  and  I  can  never  forget  the  shock  which  came  to 
me  when  one  of  the  partners,  a  Presbyterian  elder,  in  the  house 
in  which  I  was  a  clerk,  said  to  me,  in  instructing  me  one  day  in 
my  duties  as  a  salesman:  "Here,  Harry"  (striking  with  his 
hand  a  case  of  broadcloths),  "here,  Harry,  you  must  make  your 
profits;  for  the  ordinary  Southern  or  Western  buyer  knows 
nothing  about  them  ";  or,  when  a  sainted  bishop,  now  gone  to 
his  reward,  when  speaking  on  one  occasion  of  the  colored  people 
of  his  diocese,  said.  "Yes,  they  lie  a  good  deal,  and  steal  a  good 
deal,  and  get  drunk,  and  commit  adultery.  .  .  .  but,  thank  God, 
.  .  .  they  hold  the  Catholic  faith;  "  and  I  was  not  surprised  when 
another  bishop  sitting  hard  by.  and  who  is  also  no  longer  living, 
exclaimed,  "  That  is  rather  a  "serious  indictment  for  the  Catholic 
faith! " 


BISHOP  OF  NEW  YORK.  153: 

But,  as  you  and  I  know,  the  Catholic  faith  is  not  responsible 
for  such  misreading  of  its  teaching,  but  the  clouded  or  perverse 
vision  of  those  who  misread  it.  And  so,  in  an  age  which  has  come 
so  widely  as  ours  to  see  in  the  Church  a  venerable  and  picturesque, 
but  somewhat  superanuated  tradition,  I  think  we  see  our  calling! 
An  eminent  authority  in  the  realm  of  theologv,  in  another  com- 
munion, in  connection  with  his  inauguration's  the  head  of  a 
theological  training  school,  has  lately  declared  that  the  twentieth 
century  is  to  see  the  most  tremendous  struggle  which  has  yet  come 
to  pass  between  the  disciples  of  the  supernatural  and  those  of 
the  naturalistic  school.  I  believe  he  is  right,  and  that  the  im- 
pression that  it  was  the  example  and  teaching  of  Jesus  rather 
than  something  not  of  this  world  that  shone  through  them  both, 
that  is  to  redeem  and  ennoble  the  race— I  believe,  I  say,  that 
any  such  impression  of  the  secret  of  the  divine  life  is  doomed 
to  bitter  disappointment.  But  if  it  shall  be  so,  it  will  be  because 
the  Church  has  come  to  recognize  that  it  is  not  by  the  mere 
repetition  of  formulas  which  affirm  a  supernatural  "  credo  "  that 
she  is  to  touch  and  transform  the  heart  of  man;  but  rather  by 
such  an  upward-looking  faith  as  shall  lay  hold  upon  those  super- 
natural forces  that  are  within  the  veil,  and  bring  them  down  to 
be  guides  and  inspirers  of  men.  Worship,  apart  from  conduct, 
ceremonies  without  the  sacrifice  that  shall  reveal  the  Cross  to> 
which  they  have  led  us;  mere  emotionalism,  whether  it  shall 
express  itself  in  a  shout  or  in  a  rite,  this  is  something  which  our- 
cool-eyed,  modern  observer  has  come  to  estimate  at  its  true  value;: 
and  it  is  in  vain  that  sectarian  ingenuity  or  ecclesiastical  tradi- 
tionalism offers  them  as  substitutes  for  something  else!  The 
world  waits  to  see  religion  vindicating  its  place  in  our  modern 
society  by  drawing  about  it  those  who  "  do  justlv.  and  love  mercy, 
and  walk  humbly  with  their  God,"  and  'it  will  believe  in  tlie 
supernatural  origin  and  power  of  our  faith  just  as  soon'  as  it 
sees  it  doing  supernatural  things  in  the  hearts  and  lives  of  men!' 
Instead  of  believing  that  you  may  put  business  and  religion  into 
two  separate  compartments,  and  resent  as  an  impertinence  all 
endeavor  to  govern  our  daily  tasks  by  the  law  of  a  divine  life,  it 
will  persist  in  going  back  to  that  life  itself  as  it  is  portraved  for 
us  in  the  pages  of  the  New  Testament,  and  asking  us,  "  How  far 
are  conduct  and  conversation  regulating  themselves,  in  the  case 
of  each  one  of  us.  by  that  ?  " 

I  do  not  know  how  it  may  be  with  others,  but  in  my  own 
observation  and  experience  that  is  the  teaching  of  power  and 
influence  which  concerns  itself  with  this.  The  man  who  is  in 
the  shop,  or  the  office,  or  the  field,  is  forever  under  the  pressure 
of  a  secularism  which  obscures,  if  it  does  not  destroy  in  him,  all 
moral  standards.  To  recover  these  from  the  welter  of  our  modern 
civilization,  with  its  greed,  its  frivolity,  and  its  cynicism,  this 
plainly  is  the  first  office  of  the  religious  teacher,  and  then,  to 
show  how  inextricably   a  lofty  ideal  is  bound  up   with   all   the 


154         church's  methods  to  the  needs  of  the  century. 

enduring  achievement,  whether  of  a  nation  or  of  a  man,  this 
surely  is  the  highest  aim  whether  of  the  Church  or  of  her  three- 
fold ministry,  wherever  it  may  be  called  upon  to  serve! 

And  as  we  may  not  separate  religion  from  conduct,  as  little 
may  we  expect  the  loftiest  virtue  as  the  fruit  of  mere  rules.  Ours 
is  an  age  of  mechanisms;  and  as  we  make  all  other  things  by 
machinery,  so  are  we  coming  to  believe  that  we  can  produce 
character  by  the  same  methods.  There  never  was  a  wilder 
dream!  A  clever  divine  said  the  other  day  in  my  hearing  that 
a  modern  city  rector  wanted,  most  of  all,  the  gifts  of  the  manager 
of  a  department  store.  And  he  was  partly  right!  We  have 
mechanicalized  religion  until  its  chief  office  seems  to  be  to  con- 
duct an  organized  institution  of  recreation,  or  refreshment,  or 
relief.  There  is  undoubtedly  in  much  of  this  a  wholesome  re- 
action from  that  "  other-worldliness  "  which  was  the  chief  note 
in  the  sectarianisms  in  which  some  of  us  were  bred,  and  which 
found  the  main  use  of  this  present  world  to  consist  in  getting 
hopefully  out  of  it.  But  the  error  of  much  of  our  modern 
reaction  consists  in  its  mistaking  means  for  ends;  and,  most  of 
all,  in  its  abounding  faith  in  mere  machinery  as  the  most  poten- 
tial factor,  whether  in  ennobling  the  state,  or  in  transforming 
a  man.  No  grave  national  or  municipal  scandal  is  unearthed 
without  a  pathetic  demand  upon  our  law-makers  for  a  new  law 
which  shall  make  health,  and  equity,  and  virtue  the  common 
possession  of  all  the  people.  There  is  at  hand  a  tragic  illustra- 
tion of  this  of  which  I  shall  speak  here,  because  to  be  silent 
concerning  it  would  be  to  make  of  this  whole  discussion  a  gro- 
tesque impertinence.  In  the  United  States  to-day,  and  in  some 
measure  I  suppose  in  Canada, — for  across  the  border  there  are 
labor  unions  as  w^ell  as  here, — there  is  a  situation  in  our  indus- 
trial, and,  as  an  inevitable  consequence,  in  our  commercial  world, 
whose^  moral  and  spiritual  aspects  least  of  all  engage  public 
attention;  and  yet,  whose  ultimate  adjustment  must  reach  down 
to  these  as  its  only  and  final  hope.  I  have  again  and  again  heard 
bishops  and  other  clergy  discuss  these  questions,  but  always  with 
one  conclusion,  viz.,  that  laws  must,  somewhere  and  somehow, 
be  passed  which  would  resolve  existing  difficulties  by  wholesome 
and  inexorable  coercion.  We  are  not  told  who  are  to  draft  these 
laws,  nor  how  they  are  to  be  passed.  We  are  not  informed  as 
to  whence  the  public  sentiment  is  to  come  which  is  to  make  a 
way  for  us  through  what  now  looks  like  a  hopeless  impasse;  nor 
how,  when  once  it  has  been  found,  it  is  to  reach  its  ends.  Above 
all,  we  are  not  enlightened  as  to  how  you  are  to  enforce  a  law 
when  the  majority  of  the  people  are  hostile  to  its  enforcement. 
And  all  the  while  the  battle  rages;  and  men's  passions  grow 
hotter,  and  men's  language  grows  fiercer, — and  the  Church  is 
dumb.  Not  one  of  her  public  teachers  in  twenty  has  knowledge 
enough  to  make  him  competent  to  deal  with  the  subject;  and  if 
he  had,  not  one  in  a  hundred  has  the  courage  to  do  so!     And 


BISHOP  OF  NEW  YORK.  155 

jet,  here  is  a  matter  which  is  concerned  supremely  with  the 
€ternal  equities,  and  which  clamors  most  of  all  for  the  application 
to  it  of  the  law  of  a  divine  brotherhood! 

Believe  me,  men  and  brethren,  we  have  here  the  noblest  pos- 
sible sphere  for  "  the  inculcation  of  a  divine  morality,  both 
political  and  commercial,  and  the  maintenance  of  high  ideals." 
One  there  was  who  once  walked  the  world  in  garment  of  our 
flesh,  who  drew  men  together  and  never  drove  them  apart! 
AVhat  was  His  Spirit,  and  what  were  His  methods?  I  end  as 
T  began.  He  had  no  patented,  reticulated  law  of  daily  living. 
Least  of  all  did  he  imitate  the  civilizations  of  His  time,  which 
"bade  virtue  withdraw  from  men  and  live  in  lofty  seclusion.  He 
was  neither  Diogenes  in  his  tub  nor  Cicero  in  his  Tusculan  villa. 
But  He  sought  for  men  wherever  He  could  find  them:  and  then 
He  touched  them  with  the  magic  spell  of  a  high  ideal.  "N^lienever 
one  is  pining  for  specific  direction  and  definitions  for  particular 
duties  or  sins,  he  may  well  remember  him  who  came  to  the 
Master  and  said,  "  Lord,  speak  to  my  brother,  that  he  divide  the 
inheritance  with  me!  "  A  merely  human  reformer  would  have 
at  once  sat  down  and  said,  "  My  dear  friend,  this  property  must 
"be  parceled  out  in  such  and  such  portions."  That  is,  in  effect, 
what  modern  socialism  says — and  all  that  it  can  say!  But  Jesus 
says,  "Man,  who  made  me  a  Judge  or  divider  over  thee?"  Get 
the  great  law  of  a  divine  fatherhood  and  human  brotherhood 
at  work  in  your  heart,  and  you  will  not  swindle  your  kinsman 
"by  creating  a  trust  to  entrap  him;  nor,  by  buying  shares  in  it, 
take  advantage  of  your  less-favored  fellow  men  who,  unlike  you, 
are  not  let  in  on  the  "  ground  floor."  In  other  words,  whether 
you  are  buyer  or  seller,  borrower  or  lender,  donor  or  recipient, 
do  not  be  governed  by  low  and  unworthy  motives,  but  ask  for 
the  inspiration  and  giiidance  of  high  ones! 

And  then,  finally,  try  and  touch  all  that  network  of  political 
and  commercial  life  that  surrounds  you,  as  did  your  Master,  with 
ihe  spell  of  sympathy!  Our  lust  of  classification,  and  our  lack 
of  charity,  combine  to  propel  us  towards  those  swift  judgments 
of  our  fellow  men  which  are  often  as  false  as  they  are  cruel. 
Not  so  did  Jesus  come  to  Matthew,  to  Zaccheus,  to  the  Magdalene. 
Somewhere  in  each  of  these.  He  believed,  there  survived  the 
divine  ideal.  It  is  the  office  of  the  Church  and  of  the  ministry 
to-day,  not  only  to  believe  in  such  an  ideal,  but,  by  patience  and 
tenderness,  and  human  sympathy,  to  quicken  its  spell  upon  our 
fellow  men! 


156         church's  methods  to  the  needs  of  the  century. 


SATURDAY  MORNING. 

Eighth  Topic. 

THE   ADAPTATION   OF  THE   CHURCH'S   METHODS   TO 
THE  NEEDS  OF  THE  CENTUEY. 

(c)   THE  INCULCATION  OF  POLITICAL  AND  COMMER- 
CIAL   MORALITY    AND    THE    MAINTENANCE 
OF  HIGH  IDEALS. 

Second  Paper. 

The  Right  Rev.   Boyd  Vincent,  D.D., 

bishop  coadjutor  of  southern  OHIO. 

This  is  mainly  a  question  of  needs  and  methods.  But  back  of 
this  lies  another  question,  viz :  What  is  the  Church's  duty  in  such 
a  field  of  morals?     Has  she  any  such  daty? 

It  was  pointed  out  with  admirable  simplicity  by  the  late 
Bishop  of  London  that  all  men  have  a  sense  of  right  and  wrong, 
though  they  do  not  always  respond  to  it;  but  Just  because  be- 
lievers in  Jesus  Christ  are  themselves  taught  by  Him  the  will  of 
God  more  certainly  and  endowed  by  Him  with  spiritual  power  to 
realize  it,  therefore  it  is  their  duty  to  influence  the  world's  life,, 
also,  "  by  breathing  into  it  a  higher  spirit  and  giving  it  greater 
moral  consistency." 

This  seems  to  give  us  a  clew  to  our  first  answer.  In  other  words, 
the  Church  has  a  duty  to  the  world  outside  her  own  membership, 
not  only  in  holding  up  Christ's  moral  teaching  as  its  absolute 
ethical  standard,  but  also  in  helping  to  enforce  this — in  her  own 
way.  For  the  real  trouble  with  the  world's  morals,  after  all,  is 
not  that  men  do  not  know  what  is  right,  but  that  they  are  so  un- 
willing to  do  it.  Everywhere  in  the  civilized  world,  at  least,  the 
beauty  and  force  of  Christ's  ethical  teaching  are  admitted.  It  is 
when  the  principles  of  that  teaching  come  into  conflict  with  the 
other  motives  which  so  strongly  sway  men  that  the  world's  con- 
duct is  so  glaringly  inconsistent.  So  that  it  is  right  here,  if 
anywhere,  viz.,  in  the  more  consistent  application  of  prin- 
ciple, that  any  real  moral  progress  in  the  world  is  to  be  hoped 
for.  I 

And  so  it  must  be  right  here,  too,  that  the  Church  ought  to 
bring  her  influence  to  bear  to-day  most  practically — viz.,  in  con- 
stant and  confident  appeals  to  men's  consciences,  as  an  inerad- 
icable part  of  their  nature;  then,  in  insisting,  as  she  alone  can,  on 
the  divine  authority  of  conscience,  not  merely  as  the  voice  of  ex- 
perience, but  as  the  voice  of  God;  and  so  on  its  alisolute  obligation 
on  all  men,  under  all  circumstances,  and  in  all  affairs,  even  on  the 


BISHOP  COADJUTOR  OF  SOUTHERN  OHIO.  157 

largest  scale.     It  may  be  well  enough,  for  lack  of  other  convic- 
tions, to  say  with  Matthew  Arnold : 

"  Hatli  man  no  second  life? — Pitch,  this  one  high! 
Sits  there  no  judge  in  Heaven,  our  sin  to  see? 
More  strictly,  then,  the  inward  judge  obey! 
Was  Christ  a  man  like  us?     Ah!  let  vs  try 
If  we  then,  too,  ain  he  such  men  as  he!" 

But  the  world  itself  sees  the  need  of  higher  and  more  conclu- 
sive sanctions,  and  is  quick  to  respond  to  such  a  tribute  as  that 
paid  the  late  Lord  Salisbury : 

"  His  soul  was  on  the  mountains,  while  his  feet 
Went  where  the  girded  peace  of  Europe  trod. 
Above  the  throne  he  saw  the  Judgment  Seat; 
Beyond  the  frontiers  of  our  star,  the  rod 
Of  Heaven's  majesty,  Eternal  God !  " 

So  much  in  general  for  the  Church's  ethical  function  in  the 
world. 

When  we  turn  next  to  the  special  Needs  of  our  day  in  the 
matter  of  political  and  commercial  morality,  what  do  we  find? 
What  are  the  latest  and  most  salient  facts? 

First,  in  the  field  of  international  politics,  a  marvelous  exten- 
sion of  the  geographical  boundaries  of  men's  interests;  new 
world-powers — our  own  among  them — suddenly  appearing  on  the 
scene;  new  continents  being  opened  up  to  conquest,  offering  new 
spheres  of  political  influence  and  new  doors  to  commercial  enter- 
prise, all  appealing,  on  the  most  colossal  scale,  to  the  ambition  and 
selfishness  of  nations.  But  it  is  not  here,  in  this  field  of  inter- 
national morals — at  least  not  for  our  English-speaking  peoples — 
that  our  special  need  lies.  Venice,  long  ago,  could  commit  an  ir- 
reparable crime  against  Europe,  when,  in  her  political  and  com- 
mercial greed,  she  turned  aside  the  Fourth  Crusade  to  the  con- 
quest of  Constantinople,  and  so  broke  down  the  last  barrier 
against  the  invading  Turk.  And  in  more  recent  times  we  have 
seen  Germany  (in  the  Bishop  of  Albany's  scathing  phrase)  "ac- 
cepting a  coaling  station  as  compensation  for  murdered  mission- 
aries of  the  Cross."  But  of  England  even  a  Turkish  ambassador 
could  lately  say :  "  It  is  her  respect  for  public  law  which  com-, 
mands  the  confidence  of  other  nations  and  makes  her  real  power 
in  Europe.  It  is  because  she  takes  her  stand  on  principles  and  on 
the  sanctity  of  treaties,  and  is  not  supposed  to  be  open  to  the 
bribes  so  freely  dangled  before  other  States."  Our  own  country, 
too.  has  shown  herself  no  less  honorable  and  made  herself  no  less 
strong  in  keeping  international  faith  with  Cuba,  and  in  her 
straightforward  insistence  on  simple  Justice  in  China.  Besides,  I 
doubt  whether  we  always  realize  what  an  ethical  high-water  mark 
has  been  reached  in  our  day  in  the  exceptional  readiness  of  this 


158         church's  methods  to  the  needs  of  the  century. 

country  and  England  to  resort  to  international  arbitration — not, 
mark  you,  for  the  sake  of  peace  merely,  but  above  all  for  the  sake 
of  justice.  I  hope  I  may  be  pardoned  if  I  call  attention  in  this 
presence  to  a  striking  example  of  such  a  spirit  in  the  declaration 
of  a  leading  English  newspaper,  within  the  last  forty-eight  hours, 
-with  reference  to  the  recent  Boundary  Award,  viz. :  "  We  have  the 
fullest  confidence  that  the  decision  we  deplore  was  absolutely  re- 
quired by  the  justice  of  the  case."  It  is  this  noble  confidence,  so 
often  justified,  in  the  prevalence  of  the  right,  which  makes  the 
greatest  glory  of  these  nations  to-day.  We  can  trust  their  honor 
in  this  field  of  international  morals. 

It  is  when  we  come  to  the  field  of  our  own  domestic  politics  and 
most  characteristic  commercial  transactions  that  the  Church's 
voice  most  needs  to  be  heard  to-day.  We  all  know  what  a  shameful 
spectacle  in  these  respects  we  present  to  the  eyes  of  the  world — 
national  interests  defeated  and  the  wheels  of  government  blocked, 
not  only  by  party  politics,  but  by  the  covert  demands  of  great  cor- 
porations; a  decent  civil  service  still  struggling  for  its  very  life 
against  the  greed  of  the  spoils  s3^stem :  the  political  honor  and  in- 
dependence of  whole  States  prostituted  to  the  personal  advantage 
of  party  leaders;  municipal  interests  dominated  and  defied  by 
bosses  and  rings;  corruption  and  blackmail  almost  everywhere. 
On  the  other  hand,  vast  combinations  of  capital,  overawing  legis- 
latures; defying  the  law  even  while  ostensibly  complying  with  it; 
relentlessly  crushing  all  competition;  deliberately  creating  false 
values;  heartlessly  disregarding  all  individual  rights  and  robbing 
helpless  investors  of  millions  of  dollars  in  an  hour.  Only  think  of 
it!  The  aggregate  capital  of  new  industrial  consolidations  in  this 
country  in  1898  was  nine  hundred  millions  of  dollars,  and  in  1899 
three  thousand  one  hundred  millions.  What  a  menace  all  this  is 
to  our  national  honor,  to  say  nothing  of  our  prosperity,  unless  men 
can  be  made  to  feel  that,  even  in  the  conduct  of  such  interests, 
they  cannot  really  escape  from  moral  responsibility.  A  sagacious 
foreign  critic  has  recently  published  the  opinion  that  "  the 
standard  of  personal  morality  in  America  is  decidedly  higher 
than  in  England,  that  of  commercial  morality  probably  a  little 
lower,  and  that  of  political  morality  quite  distincth^  lower." 
President  Hadley,  in  commenting  on  this  ver}^  moderate  state- 
ment, declares  that  such  a  failure  to  carry  into  politics  and 
business  the  same  moral  standards  as  men  apply  in  their 
private  lives  is  "  due  to  a  defect  in  public  judgment  rather 
than  to  a  weakness  in  individual  character."  And  to  make 
his  meaning  clearer  he  points  out  three  stages  in  the  growth  of 
civilization :  first,  that  in  which  public  conduct  is  regulated 
by  force;  next,  by  respect  for  law;  and  lastly,  by  respect 
for  public  opinion.  How  true  all  this  is  was  aptly  illus- 
trated a  few  weeks  ago  in  the  little  town  of  Oxford,  Ohio, 
when  a  rufifian  who  had  deliberately  shot  down  an  officer 
was  instantly  seized  and  swung  to  a  tree.     It  was  a  thrilling  ex- 


BISHOP  COADJUTOR  OF  SOUTHERN  OHIO.  159 

ample,  though,  of  the  reverse  spirit  in  American  citizenship  when 
another  brave  officer  calling  out  only  "  In  the  name  of  the  law!  " 
was  allowed  to  cut  the  rope  in  the  very  hands  of  the  mob,  and 
carry  off  the  half-dead  culprit  to  prison.  But  it  was  a  crowning 
instance  of  what  ought  to  be  more  and  more  the  last  controlling 
factor  in  our  public  conduct,  when  on  the  following  Sunday  all 
the  churches  in  the  little  town  were  closed,  and  so,  under  Chris- 
tian initiative  and  on  the 'very  spot  of  the  mob  violence,  all  de- 
cent citizens  in  mass  meeting  openly  denounced  it. 

This  shows  us  the  point,  then,  where  the  Church's  duty  and  the 
public  need  must  meet,  viz.,  in  the  creation  and  maintenance  of 
an  entirely  new  code  of  political  and  commercial  ethics — or,  if 
you  choose  to  call  it  so,  of  a  body  of  public  moral  sentiment — 
which  shall  be  stronger  and  wider  reaching  even  than  the  law, 
and  far  surer  to  execute  itself.  As  it  is  now'  all  sorts  of  excuses 
are  found  for  giving  conscience  the  go-by.  Principle  is  supposed 
to  be  altogether  lost  in  space;  and  we  are  told  that  the  "  Ten  Com- 
mandments are  no  good  west  of  the  Mississippi  Eiver."  Legality 
once  satisfied,  how  can  there  be  any  other  questions;  for  is  it  not 
true  that  "  corporations  have  no  consciences  "  ?  Self-interest  can- 
not be  expected  to  know  anything  of  other  interests;  while  as  for 
the  public  interest,  "Oh," — in  Mr.  Vanderbilt's  classic  phrase — 

"  Oh!  the  public  be blessed!  "    All  the  more,  then,  because  of 

just  such  a  vicious  spirit  among  us  does  it  need  to  be  insisted  on 
again  and  again  that  politics  and  business,  on  whatever  scale,  are 
not  mere  "  games,"  where  there  are  no  more  considerations,  moral 
or  immoral,  in  winning,  than  in  football  or  a  boat  race;  that  public 
office  is  a  solemn  trust  for  the  public  good,  which  it  is  a  crime  to 
abuse  to  private  gain;  that  money-making  corporations  do  not 
exist  exclusively  or  even  primarily  for  the  benefit  of  promoters 
and  directors,  but  for  that  of  investors;  and  that  the  question  of 
rights  as  between  capital  and  labor  is  more  than  a  merely  eco- 
nomic one.  Of  course  we  understand  how  the  man  of  "practical 
politics,"  or  the  financial  manipulator,  regards  all  such  ideas;  we 
know  what  scant  respect  he  has  for  the  "  literary  fellers."  Never- 
theless, these  ideas  are  more  than  academic  opinions;  they  are 
moral  truths,  which  no  decent  man  dares  to  deny  individually; 
and  therefore  we  are  sure  that  in  every  community  there  is  a 
public  moral  nerve  which  will  make  itself  felt  at  last,  if  it  be  only 
excited  strongly  enough  and  steadily  enough.  Of  course,  too, 
no  such  new  code  of  political  and  commercial  ethics  can  be  ex- 
pected to  establish  itself, at  once,  or  always  to  execute  itself  com- 
pletely. There  are  practical  difficulties,  and  immense  ones,  in  the 
way  in  the  shape  of  the  political  "  machine  "  and  the  legal  powers 
of  corporations.  Too  often  have  we  seen  public  reforms  defeated 
by  such  means  and  the  guilty  go  unpunished.  But,  thank  Heaven! 
we  have  also  seen  such  reforms  succeed,  in  spite  of  such  obstacles, 
and  the  guilty  punished  at  last.  The  fact  is,  and  it  is  an  all-im- 
portant  one,  that   reaction  comes   only  when   public   spirit  and 


160         church's  methods  to  the  needs  of  the  century. 

public  pressure  begin  to  flag.  But  the  world  has  been  made 
better  in  the  long  run,  and  its  greatest  reforms  accomplished  by 
Just  such  accumulated  public  sentiment;  and  it  can  be  made 
better  still,  if  only  those  of  us  who  are  divinely  charged  with  the 
duty  persist  in  doing  our  duty  and  in  the  wisest  ways. 

And  so  we  come  finally  to  the  question  of  Methods :  How  shall 
this  Church  adapt  herself  to  the  changed  conditions?  How  shall 
she  bring  her  moral  influence  to  bear  on  the  world  to-day  more 
effectively? 

1.  First  of  all  and  last  of  all,  of  course,  in  training  the  indi- 
vidual conscience.  This  she  has  done  faithfully  in  the  past,  even 
in  her  worship.  To  this  let  many  high-minded  statesmen  and  fi- 
nanciers among  her  own  children  bear  witness;  or  even  a  French 
statesman,  who,  being  asked  when  he  expected  to  see  the  morals 
of  France  reformed,  "  Never,"  he  exclaimed.  "  until  the  Church  of 
Cod  publicly  teaches  the  Commandments  of  God  again  in  a  lan- 
guage understood  of  the  people." 

Unquestionably,  too,  this  Church  has,  up  to  a  certain  point, 
been  faithful  in  her  inculcation  of  morals  from  her  pulpit.  But 
just  as  unquestionably  our  pulpit  has  lagged  far  behind  that  of 
other  religious  bodies  in  direct  and  courageous  dealing  with  the 
moral  issues  in  public  affairs.  We  have  even  prided  ourselves  on 
the  fact  and  been  rather  amused  than  otherwise  by  the  popular 
fling  that  "  the  Episcopal  Church  never  intereferes  with  a  man's 
politics — or  his  religion."  That  is  all  well  enough  if  the  Church's 
concern  is  only  with  the  personal  religious  character  and  conduct 
of  her  own  members,  and  not  at  all  with  the  affairs  of  the  world 
outside.  But  if,  as  we  have  seen,  that  is  a  mistake,  and  the 
Kingdom  of  God  is  really  meant  to  be  leaven  to  the  lump;  if  the 
Church  is  really  set  as  a  city  on  a  hill,  and  a  light  in  a  dark  place, 
to  guide  the  world  itself  to  righteousness,  then  her  preachers 
ought  to  make  their  voices  heard  on  such  subjects  when  necessary, 
and  with  no  uncertain  sound.  If  it  be  objected  that  the  men  wlio 
need  such  preaching  most  do  not  go  to  Church  to-day,  still  it  is  to 
be  replied  that  the  civilized  world  was  never  readier  to  listen  to 
the  Church  as  a  teacher  of  morals,  and  to  feel  that  here,  at  least, 
she  speaks  with  an  authority  which  neither  the  press  nor  the  plat- 
form can  claim.  Besides,  if  more  of  our  bishops  and  clergy,  in- 
stead of  dealing  in  their  sermons  only  with  mere  generalities, 
dealt  oftener  and  more  practically  in  this  wav  with  the  living 
moral  issues  in  public  affairs,  they  would  not  onlv  have  tlieir  pews 
oftener  filled,  but  win  a  speedy  hearing  and  cons'tituencv  also  out- 
side the  walls  of  their  Churches. 

Even  the  Church's  teaching  function  might  be  utilized  in  such 
a  cause  as  never  before.  Is  it  enough  that  in  her  Catechism  she 
should  simply  indoctrinate  her  children  in  the  faith  and  in  the 
general  principles  of  morals,  and  then  give  them  no  further  prac- 
tical hint  of  how  those  principles  are  to  be  applied?    There  are  a 


BISHOP  COADJUTOR  OF  SOUTHERN  OHIO.  161 

thousand  questions  of  duty  in  after  life  never  dreamed  of  even 
in  that  formidable  catechetical  answer  called  '^  My  Duty  towards 
my  Neighbor."  One  of  the  most  glaring  defects  in  our  public- 
school  system  for  years  was  that  it  failed  in  the  very  object  for 
which  it  was  primarily  established,  viz.,  in  teaching  civic  duties 
and  so  in  forming  character  for  American  citizenship.  And 
again,  one  of  the  most  striking  ideas  in  the  "  higher  education  " 
of  our  day  is  that  the  prime  purpose  even  of  our  colleges  and  uni- 
versities is  to  make  every  student  realize  his  civic  responsibility 
and  the  duty  of  fitting  himself  for  public  service  in  some  form. 
Why  should  not  the  Church,  too,  with,  such  needs  as  we  have 
seen  pressing  upon  her,  look  far  enough  afield  to  train  her  Chris- 
tian children  in  the  same  high  ideals  and  duties  of  public  life? 
Most  of  you  probably  know  of  the  recent  movement  in  the  di- 
rection of  what  is  called  "The  Ethical  Sunday-school";  and  fan- 
ciful and  fatuous  as  such  a  thing  seems  at  first  thought,  yet  ex- 
amination is  sure  to  impress  you  with  its  value.  Not  as  a  substi- 
tute, of  course,  for  ordinary  Sunday-school  teaching,  but  as  a 
supplement.  I  know  at  least  one  public-spirited  young  clergy- 
man in  Cincinnati  who  avails  himself  of  the  absentee  privilege 
in  her  public-school  law,  and  always  trains  his  Sunday-school 
children  at  least  one  week-day  afternoon,  at  the  parish  house,  in 
'  just  such  ethical  ideals  and  duties. 

And  why  should  not  our  theological  seminaries  be  made  to  con- 
tribute more  to  the  same  result?  Dear  old  Bishop  Williams  used 
to  say  that  "  of  all  the  instrumentalities  which  it  pleases  an  All- 
wise  and  All-merciful  God  to  employ  for  the  edification  of  his 
people  and  the  redemption  of  the  world,  the  most  useless  and  most 
belpless  is  the  callow  youth  just  graduated  from  a  theological 
school."  And  no  less  an  authority  than  the  Dean  of  the  Andover 
Seminary  recently  said :  "  The  time  has  come  to  differentiate. 
If  what  we  want  is  simply  scholars  and  theologians  and  dog- 
matists in  our  pulpits,  then  the  old  seminary  curriculum  is  well 
enough.  But  if  what  we  want  is  ministers  to  the  world  of  a  liv- 
ing Cxospel  and  leaders  of  the  people  in  all  civic  and  social  right- 
eousness, then  what  we  need  most  is  a  training  school  rather 
than  a  mere  library  and  classrooms."  Making  all  allowance  for 
extravagance  of  statement,  I  think  we  shall  all  agree  that  the 
proposition  is  substantially  true. 

2.  This  suggests  another  respect  in  which  this  Church's 
methods  can  be  improved,  viz.,  in  a  larger  personal  and  official  ac- 
tivity of  her  bishops  and  clergy  in  all  public  reform  movements. 
None  of  us  are  ignorant,  of  course,  of  the  fact  that  some  of  our 
Episcopal  brethren,  both  in  this  country  and  in  England,  have  of 
late  years  been  called  on  to  arbitrate  in  certain  public  afl'airs, — 
and  with  what  happy  results!  And  this  because  the  public  had 
not  only  confidence  in  their  personal  integrity,  Justness,  and  wis- 
dom, but  respect  also  for  their  representative  official  position. 
Not  all  of  us,  of  course,  would  think  ourselves  qualified  to  serve 


162 


church's  methods  to  the  needs  of  the  century. 


in  such  a  capacity;  but  more  of  us  might  readily  become  so,  if  we 
oftener  showed  ourselves  really  thoughtful  and  concerned  about 
such  rights  of  our  fellow  men. 

3.  But  the  form  in  which  this  Church  most  needs  to  make  her 
moral  influence  felt  to-day  is  in  more  confident  and  constant  ap- 
peals to  the  public  conscience — I  mean,  in  more  courageous  and 
authoritative  pronouncement,  in  her  corporate  capacity,  of  her 
moral  judgments  upon  the  world's  conduct.  With  one  or  two  no- 
table exceptions  in  our  legislation,  we  have  been  far  too  timid 
and  conservative  in  this  respect  in  the  past;  perhaps,  with  what 
we  considered  a  becoming  modesty,  or  perhaps  because  of  some 
supposed  divine  limitation  of  the  Church's  moral  function  in  the 
world.  We  may  not  forget,  of  course,  that  the  Master  Himself  di- 
rectly refused  to  interfere  in  affairs  which  properly  belonged  to- 
Csesar;  but  we  must  also  remember  that  he  did  not  hesitate  to  em- 
phasize for  all  men  the  things  which  belong  to  God.  He  would  not 
consent  to  act  as  "  a  judge  and  divider  "  between  men,  within  the 
realm  of  the  civil  law;  but  He  did  not  hesitate  to  speak  as  a 
Teacher,  in  the  larger  scope  of  the  moral  law,  and  distinctly  bid 
both  parties  "  beware  of  covetousness."  Surely  His  Church  may 
do  as  much  to-day  and  ought  to.  Other  Churches  among  us, 
even  the  least  historic  and  most  multiple,  deliver  their  formal 
pronouncements  on  such  matters,  and  are  listened  to.  The 
Church  of  Rome,  Rome  calmly  conscious  and  assertive  of  her 
rights  in  this  respect,  has  always  done  so,  and  still  does  so.  Con- 
sider only  half  a  dozen  of  the  titles  of  the  thirty  odd  encyclicals 
and  other  carefully  considered  deliverances  of  the  late  Pope  Leo- 
to  the  world — for  example :  "  On  the  Evils  Affecting  Modem 
Society  ";  on  "  Socialism,  Communism,  and  Nihilism  ";  on  "  Chris- 
tian Marriage  ";  on  "  The  Chief  Duties  of  Christians  as  Citi- 
zens";  on  "The  Condition  of  the  Working  Classes";  on  "Alle- 
giance to  the  Republic."  Can  any  man  withhold  his  admiration 
from  .such  faithful  efforts  of  this  part  of  Christ's  Church  to  do- 
her  duty  in  the  moral  guidance  of  the  world?  With  all  the 
world's  discount,  too,  of  the  other  claims  of  the  Church  of  Rome, 
men  do  recognize  her  right  to  speak  to  them  in  such  matters,  and 
do  listen  to  her. 

And,  now,  I  ask  you,  is  it  not  time  that  this  Church  of  ours,  so 
conscious,  too,  of  her  historic  life  and  Catholic  character,  should! 
arouse  herself  from  her  timid  conservatism,  and,  as  an  integral 
part  of  the  Church  of  God,  assert  her  divine  authority  in  like  for- 
mal and  public  moral  judgments?  Has  she  not  now  won  a  po- 
sition and  influence  in  this  land,  to  say  nothing  of  her  rights  and 
prestige  in  England  and  in  Canada,  such  as  to  justify  her  in  such 
a  course  ?  For  it  is  not  the  power  of  numbers,  it  is  moral  weight, 
the  force  of  authority  and  character  which  counts  in  such  a  con- 
nection. The  more  we  believe  in  ourselves,  in  this  way,  and 
justify  it  by  our  wisdom  and  courage,  the  more  will  the  public 
believe  in  us,  too.    When  the  Convention  of  the  Diocese  of  Massa- 


BISHOP  COADJUTOR  OF  SOUTHERN  OHIO.  163^ 

chusetts  sent  a  copy  of  her  pronouncement  upon  the  recent  labor 
troubles  to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  it  was  received' 
with  more  than  respect;  it  was  acknowledged  with  gratitude. 
Church  Congresses  may  debate  themselves  hoarse  on  such  sub- 
jects, and  their  deliverances  may  all  be  interesting  and  even 
helpful  in  themselves,  but  they  carry  no  final  convictions,  for 
there  is  no  recognized  authority  behind  them.  Even  such  a  dig- 
nified Episcopal  Conference  as  this  may  discuss  matters  of  vital 
concern  to  ourselves,  and  the  public  be  no  wiser  or  better  when 
we  shall  have  done.  But  let  this  Church,  in  her  full  corporate  ca- 
pacity and  authority,  in  her  diocesan  synods  and  Episcopal  ad- 
dresses— above  all,  in  the  pastorals  of  her  House  of  Bishops  and' 
the  action  of  her  General  Convention,  instead  of  speaking  only 
to  her  own  immediate  constituency  or  everlastingly  discussing 
only  her  own  organization  and  administration,  speak  oftener  and 
more  dogmatically  on  the  great  moral  issues  in  public  affairs,  and 
she  too,  will  make  herself  heard  and  heeded.  Already  she  is 
doing  more  than  any  other  Church,  both  here  and  in  Canada,  to 
form  public  opinion  and  practice  in  the  matter  of  divorce  and 
remarriage.  Why  should  it  not  be  so  with  her  in  respect  to  all 
great  public  moral  issues? 

The  danger  in  all  this  is  clear  enough,  of  course — the  danger  of 
misjudgments  and  seeming  partisanship.  But  let  this  Church 
only  be  careful  and  deliberate  enough  in  her  pronouncements  tt 
start  with,  and  then,  instead  of  herself  pronouncing  directly  on 
men  and  measures,  pronounce,  rather,  after  the  Scriptural  model 
and  at  the  right  critical  moment,  God's  everlasting  judgments  in 
principles  (for  about  these  she  is  always  sure),  and  then  she  can 
not  only  afford  to  run  all  other  risks,  but  is  bound  to. 

4.  Lastly,  there  is  one  other  consideration  in  this  connection 
and  that  is  such  righteous  conduct  by  this  Church  of  her  own  af- 
fairs as  shall  still  further  justify  her,  to  the  world's  eyes,  in  any- 
such  claims  as  its  moral  teacher  and  judge.  Taking  warning  by 
an  illustrious  example  to  the  contrary,  she  must  keep  her  hands 
out  of  politics  proper,  and  continue  to  be  above  even  a  suspicion 
of  interest  in  them  beyond  the  legitimate  range  of  her  moral 
judgment.  She  must  scrutinize  more  carefully  than  she  always 
has  done  the  character  of  the  men  to  whom  she  intrusts  the  con- 
duct even  of  her  temporal  affairs,  and  who  are  so  often  canonized 
in  her  parish  memorials.  Above  all,  she  must  be  more  chan^  of 
the  money  which  comes  into  her  hands  from  sources  that  are  mani- 
festly open  to  criticism.  The  present  Bishop  of  ISTew  York  (if  he 
will  allow  me^i.  in  a  graceful  eulogium  once  upon  one  of  Phila- 
delphia's most  noted  financiers  and  philanthropists,  nobly  char- 
acterized his  wealth,  both  in  its  making  and  its  spending,  in  a 
single  telling  phrase,  when  he  said,  "  It  was  all  clean  money!  " 
Would  that  the  Church  might  always  say  this  of  her  benefactors t 
She  could  teach  and  judge,  then,  with  all  the  more  confidence. 


164  SERMON  AT  THE  CLOSING  SERVICE. 


SUNDAY  MOENING. 

SEEMON  AT  THE  CLOSING  SEEVICE. 

SYSTEM,  UNITY,  PEOGEESS. 

The  Right  Rev.  Frederick  Courtney,  D.D.  , 
bishop  of  nova  scotia, 

"  And  he  gave  some,  apostles;  and  some,  prophets;  and  some,  evangelists; 
and  some,  pastors  and  teachers;  for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints,  for  the  work 
of  the  ministry,  for  tlie  edifying  of  tlie  body  of  Christ:  Till  we  all  come  in  the 
unity  of  the  faith,  and  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God,  unto  a  perfect 
man,  unto  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fullness  of  Christ." — Eph.  iv.  11, 
12,  13. 

System,  imity,  progress — these  are  what  these  sentences  empha- 
•size,  and  they  are  the  watchwords  of  their  author,  whenever  he 
treats  of  Christ  and  the  Church. 

I.  System. 

There  have  been  two  great  revelations  of  Himself  which  God 
has  been  pleased  to  make,  which  are  mentioned  and  characterized 
by  the  Evangelist  St.  John  in  the  phrase,  "  The  law  was  given 
by  Moses,  but  grace  and  truth  by  Jesus  Christ  ":  and  each  of  these 
was  embodied  in  and  perpetuated  by  a  system.  When  Closes  had 
received  that  revelation  of  God  as  the  self-existent  One,  taught 
him  by  the  exhibition  of  a  fire  of  such  a  character  as  did  not 
require  the  material  bush  on  which  to  sustain  its  life,  for  "  the 
bush  was  not  burnt";  in  which  revelation  AA'as  gathered  up  that 
of  the  Divine  Being  made  known  to  the  antediluvians  as  the 
Creator,  and  to  the  patriarchs  as  the  Almighty;  and  supplemented 
by  the  cloud,  and  trumpet,  and  fire,  and  thunder  of  Sinai,  at 
which  he  did  "exceedingly  fear  and  quake";  it  speedily  found 
a  home  and  an  abiding  place  in  that  elaborate  system  known  as  the 
moral  and  ceremonial  law,  in  which  tabernacle,  sacrifice,  and  priest- 
hood, and,  later  on,  Judges  and  kings  and  schools  of  prophets,  found 
their  appropriate  places.  "  See  that  thou  make  all  things  accord- 
ing to  the  pattern  showed  to  thee  in  the  Mount,"  was  the  direc- 
tion given  to  him,  in  obedience  to  which  his  system  was  con- 
structed. It  were  strange  indeed,  if  He  who,  in  thus  revealing 
Himself  in  divers  portions  and  divers  manners  to  the  fathers, 
made  use  of  a  system  in  which  that  revelation  might  be  enshrined 
and  preserved,  and  in  His  still  earlier  revelation  of  His  eternal 
power  and  Godhead  embodied  that  in  the  vast  system  of  the  uni- 
verse, had  not  designed  a  system  in  which  to  enshrine  and  preserve 
that  fuller  and  complete  revelation  of  Himself  which  He  made 
by  a  Son,  and  of  which  it  is  written,  "  No  man  hath  seen  God  at 


BISHOP  OF  NOVA  SCOTIA.  165 

any  time;  the  only  Begotten  which  is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father, 
He  hath  declared  Him." 

Think  for  a  moment  of  the  two  terms  of  which  our  Lord  Him- 
self makes  use.  His  very  first  utterance  in  entering  upon  His 
public  ministry  is,  "  The  time  is  fulfilled,  and  the  Kingdom  of 
God  is  at  hand."  And  Avhat  is  a  kingdom  if  it  be  not  an  ordered 
and  defined  system,  in  which  the  administration  of  government 
is  provided  for  tlirough  the  various  offices  of  State?  He  speaks 
also  of  His  Church  as  that  which  He  will  build  upon  a  certain 
rock;  but  what  sort  of  a  construction  can  that  be  which  has  no 
system?  Again,  what  is  the  idea  conveyed  in  the  words  of  the 
text  that  "  He  gave  some,  apostles;  and  some,  prophets;  and  some, 
evangelists;  and  some,  pastors  and  teachers  ";  if  it  be  not  that 
these  are  to  fulfill  sundry  functions  in  the  application  of  a  system 
to  the  needs  of  the  members  of  it?  Again,  the  similes  made  use 
of  by  the  inspired  writers  lead  to  the  same  conclusion.  The 
Church  is  spoken  of  as  a  body,  a  building,  an  army,  a  household, 
a  family — and  every  one  of  these  implies  a  system. 

Certainly  there  is  no  encouragement  in  Holy  Scripture  for  the 
idea  which  some  have  held,  that,  whereas  the  literal  laws  and  ordi- 
nances of  the  Mosaic  system  have  given  place  to  a  revelation  of 
principles  and  the  dispensation  of  the  Spirit,  therefore  Chris- 
tianity is  a  religion  of  individual  Christian  meji,  each  with  his 
psalm,  expressive  of  his  personal  experience;  his  doctrine,  which 
to  him  is  all-important  to  be  believed  and  uttered  forth;  his  in- 
terpretation, which  is  the  onl}-  legitimate  one;  his  tongue,  which 
he  must  speak  whether  any  understand  it  or  not;  his  own  special 
revelation,  in  the  declaration  of  which  every  other  is  to  see  an 
open  heaven  and  a  deeper  understanding  of  the  mysteries  of  God. 
All  this  St.  Paul  himself  condemns  and  sets  aside  with  the  enun- 
ciation of  the  principle,  "  God  is  not  the  author  of  confusion,  but 
of  order,  in  all  the  Churches  of  the  saints." 

Let  us  all,  then,  recognize  the  fact  that  the  revelation  which 
God  has  been  pleased  to  make  of  Himself  in  His  Son,  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord,  is  preserved  for  the  succeeding  generations  of 
mankind  in  a  system  called  a  Church  and  a  Kingdom,  which  sys- 
tem, like  that  of  the  State,  and  that  of  the  family  (which  also 
have  God  for  their  author),  exists,  not  for  the  purpose  of  cramp- 
ing and  stunting  the  individual,  but  of  enabling  him  to  fulfill 
himself  and  to  accomplish  more  than  he  could  possibly  effect  if 
there  were  no  svstem,  or  he  lived  outside  it. 


II.    UXITT. 

There  are  two  unities  mentioned  in  the  new  Testament,  or,  if 
you  will,  two  aspects  or  phases  of  the  one  unity.  The  former  is 
that  which  exists  now— St.  Paul  calls  it  "  The  unity  of  the  Spirit  " 
— the  other  is  that  which  lies  in  the  future,  and  of  which  he 


166  SERMON  AT  THE  CLOSING  SERVICE. 

speaks  in  the  words  of  the  text,  "  The  unity  of  the  faith  and  of 
the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God." 

I  ask  you,  brethren,  to  consider  the  salient  points  of  the  revela- 
tion of  God  in  Christ,  in  order  that  we  may  have  some  sense  of 
how  great,  wonderful,  and  stupendous  they  are. 

Begin  with  Christ's  statement  to  those  Jews  which  believed  in 
Him—"  If  ye  continue  in  my  word,  then  are  ye  my  disciples 
indeed,  and  ye  shall  know  the  truth."  Of  the  same  nature  with 
this  is  his  declaration  to  Pilate's  "Thou  sayest  that  I  am 
a  King;  to  this  end  was  I  born,  and  for  this  cause  came  I  into- 
the  world,  that  I  might  bear  witness  unto  the  truth.'' 

Add  now  His  promise  to  the  disciples  regarding  the  work  of 
the  Holy  Spirit — "  He  shall  guide  you  into  all  truth."  After  this. 
His  assertion  ''  I  am  the  truth  " — and  finally  His  statement  "  No 
one  knoweth  who  the  Son  is  but  the  Father." 

Again,  think  of  St.  John's  record,  "  the  Word  was  made  flesh  " 
in  connection  with  St.  Paul's  language,  "  He  emptied  Himself."" 
Then,  as  regards  His  work — "  God  was  in  Christ,  reconciling  the 
world  unto  Himself,  not  imputing  their  trespasses  unto  them  "; 
or,  "  He  made  Him  the  sin  for  us,  who  knew  no  sin,  that  we  might 
be  made  the  righteousness  of  God  in  Him."  Or,  finally,  "  The 
mystery  of  God,  both  of  the  Father  and  of  Christ,  in  which  are 
hid  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge." 

Turn  your  attention  to  some  of  the  topics  denominated  mys- 
teries, i.  c,  things  which  were  hidden  before,  but  are  now  made 
known  to  the  Christian  Church. 

There  is  the  mystery  of  iniquity.  There  is  the  mystery  "  that 
the  Gentiles  are  fellow-heirs  and  of  the  same  body,  and  partakers 
of  His  promise." 

There  is  the  mystery  of  "  Christ  in  you,  the  hope  of  glory.'^ 
There  is  the  mystery  of  Israel's  present  excision  and  their  future 
regrafting  into  their  own  olive  tree.  Think  of  these,  and  then 
shall  we  not  exclaim  with  St.  Paul,  as  he  looks  on  to  the  time 
when  all  Israel  shall  be  saved,  "  Oh,  the  depth  of  the  riches,  both 
of  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  God;  how  unsearchable  are  His 
judgments,  and  His  ways  past  finding  out!  " 

Even  from  this  bare  enumeration,  our  consciousness  must  be 
imbued  with  some  sense  of  their  magnitude,  in  the  demand  which 
they  make  upon  the  human  heart  to  expand  to  their  embracing, 
and  the  human  mind  to  their  comprehension.  It  is  indeed  the 
fact  that,  at  the  first,  the  disciples  of  the  Christian  Church  "  all 
continued  steadfastly  in  the  apostles'  doctrine  and  fellowship." 
But  let  us  not  fail  to  recognize  that  the  revelation  being  what  it 
was,  and  human  nature  being  what  it  is,  it  was  neither  possible 
nor  desirable  for  that  state  of  things  to  continue.  The  same  sub- 
jects appear  to  different  minds  in  differing  ways.  Individuals 
in  the  same  nation,  according  to  their  temperament,  disposition, 
education,  environment,  are  variously  acted  upon  by  the  same 
truth.     There  are  also  national  and  racial  temperaments  and  dis- 


BISHOP  OF  NOVA  SCOTIA. 


167 


positions  and  characters  of  mind.  The  Jew  and  the  Greek  can- 
not receive  truth  in  the  same  way,  nor  regard  it  from  the  same 
standpoint. 

The  followers  of  St.  James — i.  e.,  those  who  call  themselves 
after  his  name — interpreted  the  revelation  in  Christ  differently 
from  those  of  St.  Paul.  It  is  notorious  tliat  Kasterners  and 
Westerners  think  after  a  very  different  fashion.  The  same  is  true 
of  English,  Scotch,  and  Irish;  of  Xortherners  and  Southerners  in 
the  United  States — of  Indians  and  white  men  over  the  whole 
continent  of  North  America — of  Chinese  and  Japanese  and  the 
dwellers  in  Oceanica.  If  this  is  true  regarding  many  suhjects  of 
interest  common  to  the  whole  human  race,  it  will  hold  good 
regarding  that  which  we  believe  to  be  the  inheritance  of  the 
whole^viz.:  the  contents  of  the  Gospel,  the  revelation  of  God  in 
€hrist.  Thinking  so,  and  men  feeling  strongly  upon  this  sub- 
ject, which  to  them  is  the  most  important  that  can  command 
their  attention,  one  cannot,  in  looking  back,  very  greatly  wonder, 
not  only  at  the  disputes  and  controversies,  the  animosities  and 
hostilities,  the  contentions  and  heresies,  which  arose  one  after 
another  to  trouble  the  peace  of  the  Church;  but  at  the  great 
schism  between  the  East  and  West,  the  further  schism  in  Western 
€hristendom  resulting  from  the  Ileformation  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  and  the  later  rending  of  the  robe  of  Christ  by  the  setting 
off  of  the  various  Protestant  Communions. 

Are  these  things,  then,  of  little  moment,  about  which  we  need 
not  disturb  ourselves?  Indeed  they  are  not.  Are  they  not  evil 
and  to  be  deplored;  in  the  coming  of  which  much  of  self-will,  in- 
tolerance, unbelief,  rejection  of  truth,  ambition,  and  positive  sin 
had  a  part?  Indeed  they  are.  Should  we  not  do  what  in  us  lies 
to  remedy  such  evils  and  to  cry  out  against  them?  Indeed  we 
should. 

But,  with  regard  to  some  at  least  of  these,  we  may  believe  that 
God's  voice  can  be  heard  as  clearly  as  when  the  prophet  said  to 
the  gathered  hosts  of  Judah,  on  the  point  of  starting  out  to  bring 
back  the  revolted  ten  tribes  into  subjection  to  the  son  of  Solomon: 
"  Ye  shall  not  go  up,  nor  fight  against  your  brethren:  return  every 
man  to  his  house;  for  this  thing  is  from  me.'''  And  as,  in  God's 
idea,  the  unity  of  the  nation  subsisted,  in  spite  of,  and  deep  down 
beneath,  the  'visible  separation  of  the  ten  tribes,  so  it  is  to-day; 
the  underlying  unity  of  the  spirit  subsists,  in  spite  of,  and  deep 
down  beneath,  all  these  racial  and  other  distinctions  and  separa- 
tions, for  it  is  a  unity  deeper  than  them  all,  deeper  than  the  divi- 
sion between  the  Protestant  Communions  around  us  and  our- 
selves; deeper  than  the  division  between  ourselves  and  Rome;  and 
between  Rome  and  the  Greek  Church — aye,  deeper  even  than  the 
difference  between  Christian  and  Jew,  for  "in  Christ  there  is 
neither  Greek  nor  Jew,  circumcision  nor  uncircumcision,  bar- 
barian, Scythian,  bond  nor  free,  but  Christ  is  all  and  in  all;  Ye 
are  all  one  in  Christ  Jesus." 


168  SERMON  AT  THE  CLOSING  SERVICE. 

Now  and  then  there  comes  some  partial  recognition  of  this 
underlying  unity  of  the  Spirit;  when,  for  instance,  the  story  of 
some  hero  of  the  faith  is  carried  round  the  world  and  the  hearts 
of  all,  everywhere,  thrilled  with  the  narrative  of  his  deeds, 
mutually  recognize  the  working  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  without  which 
no  such  deeds  had  been  possible;  or  when  a  writer  of  deep  spir- 
ituality or  great  knowledge  in  divine  things  opens  a  whole  heaven 
of  truth  and  brings  Christ  nearer  than  ever  to  hearts  that  love 
Him,  in  every  community  and  every  country  where  his  writings 
penetrate — sometimes,  when  some  separated  Body  not  only  under- 
takes, but  accomplishes,  grand  work  for  God. 

Meantime,  we  look  forward  to  the  coming  of  the  future  unity 
— "  the  unity  of  the  faith  and  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of 
God  ";  faith  and  knowledge  striving  together,  that  the  mind  may 
at  last  understand  what  the  heart  has  believed. 

Tennyson  has  expressed  this  most  felicitously  in  the  well-known 
words: 

"  We  have  but  faith,  we  cannot  know; 
For  knowledge  is  of  things  we  see — 
We  trust,  O  Lord,  it  comes  from  Thee, 
A  beam  in  darkness,  let  it  grow, 
Let  knowledge  grow  to  more  and  more, 
But  more  of  reverence  with  us  dwell 
That  mind  and  lieart,  according  well. 
May  make  our  music  as  before, 
But  vaster.    ..." 

What  I  have  said  implies  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  by  degrees 
teaching  the  universal  Church  of  Christ  by  all  the  events  in  her 
history,  so  that  she  may  at  last,  in  her  totality,  come  to  an  agree- 
ment in  the  understanding  of  that  revelation  which  she  has  re- 
ceived, and  in  Avhich  she  has  all  along  believed.  If  this  is  so, 
I  suppose  that  when  that  future  unity  is  reached,  the  older,  and 
what  are  commonly  called  the  historic  Churches,  will  have  much 
to  learn  of  what  God  has  been  teaching  them  through  the  sep- 
arated brethren;  and  that  the  separated  brethren  will  have  chiefly 
to  learn  from  the  historic  Churches  the  value  of  those  things 
which  they  discarded  (as  seems  in  every  case  to  have  been  in- 
evitable), when  their  exodus  took  place. 

III.  Peogress, 

The  need  of  this  can,  I  think,  be  best  illustrated  by  the  case 
of  St.  Paul  himself.  You  will  remember  that  he  tells  the 
Galatians  that  he  received  his  Gospel  "  by  revelation  of  Jesus 
Christ";  the  Corinthians,  "I  received  of  the  Lord  Jesus  that 
which  also  I  delivered  unto  you  ";  the  Ephesians,  "  that  by  revela- 
tion he  made  known  unto  me  the  mystery ";  the  Corinthians 
again,  that  he  was  "  caught  up  to  the  "third  heaven,"  "  to  para- 
dise, and  heard  unspeakable  words,  which  it  is  not  lawful  for  a 
man  to  utter." 


BISHOP  OF  NOVA  SCOTIA.  16& 

Tf  anyone  might  consider  that  he  knew  enough,  and  that  it  was 
unnecessary  to  progress  beyond  the  point  already  reached,  that 
man  must  be  St.  Paul.  But  what  says  he  of  himself  as  to  his 
desire  and  action,  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Philippians?  "  That  I  may 
know  Him,  and  the  power  of  His  resurrection,  and  the  fellowship 
of  His  sufferings,  being  made  conformable  unto  His  death:  If 
by  anv  means  I  might  attain  unto  the  resurrection  of  the  dead. 
Not  as  though  I  had  already  attained,  either  were  already  perfect: 
but  I  follow  after,  if  that  I  may  lay  hold  of  that  for  which  also 
I  was  laid  hold  of  by  Christ  Jesus.  Brethren,  I  count  not 
myself  to  have  laid  hold." 

The  attitude  of  the  apostle  is  the  attitude  of  the  whole  Church. 
To  her,  as  to  him,  the  revelation  has  been  made,  the  idea  has  been 
displaced.  By  her  as  by  him  the  idea  has  been  seen,  the  revelation 
has  been  believed.  She,  as  he  did,  "  counts  all  things  but  loss 
for  the  excellency  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord." 
Thought  in  her  members  on  this  revelation  is  different,  as  in  him 
at  successive  stages  of  his  experience,  and  the  language,  in  which 
endeavor  is  made  to  express  the  thoughts,  is  inadequate.  But 
each  contributes  as  he  is  able  to  the  whole,  and  from  time  to  time 
the  whole  Church,  in  the  Apostles'  and  Nicene  Creeds — or  some 
portion  of  the  Church — expresses  its  faith  and  its  apprehension  of 
its  meaning  in  some  other  form  of  words,  which  by  degree  is 
outgrown  and  felt  to  be  no  longer  a  suitable  expression  for  con- 
veying the  thought  to  succeeding  ages.  But  no  individual,  nor 
any  one  set  or  race  of  men,  can  give  adequate  expression  to  the 
idea  as  it  exists  in  God — so  it  is,  "  till  we  all  come  in  the  unity  of 
the  faith  and  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God  a  perfect 
man.'' 

Christ  is  man — perfect  man — God's  idea  in  perfect  expression. 
The  entire  human  race  must  progress,  through  its  varied  experi- 
ence, by  its  most  careful,  painstaking,  and  accurate  thought,, 
under  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  until  it  reaches  ''  the  meas- 
ure of  the  stature  of  the  fullness  of  Christ." 

We  bishops,  in  our  Conference,  have  been  carefully  considering 
certain  questions  which  have  been  specially  brought  to  our  atten- 
tion, as  affecting  the  welfare  of  that  portion  of  Christ's  Church 
which  is  committed  to  us.  with  the  hope  of  gaining  a  better,  more 
accurate  understanding  of  them,  and  of  those  parts  of  God's  great 
revelation  which  are  involved  in  them;  so  making  our  contribution 
to  that  totality  which  will  be  finally  reached,  and  which  will  be 
"  the  measure  ot  the  stature  of  the  fullness  of  Christ." 

It  is  but  a  very  small  contribution  which  even  such  a  body  can 
make  to  that  great  and  glorious  whole.  It  is  but  a  partial  appre- 
hension which  we  can  gain  of  the  meaning  and  significance  of 
God's  great  Gospel — the  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ.  But  it  is 
only  bv  everyone  in  the  Church  opening  the  eye  of  his  spirit  to 
see'"  that  light  which  never  was  on  land  and  sea,"  "  the  light  of 
the  knowledge  of  the  glorv  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ,"' 


JYO  SERMON  AT  THE  CLOSING  SERVICE. 

then  rejoicing  in  the  possession  of  eternal  life  (for  "  this  is  life 
eternal,  to  know  God  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  He  did  send  "),  to 
reverently  meditate  upon  its  meaning,  under  the  teaching  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  applying  it  to  the  needs  and  circumstances  of  daily 
life,  and  giving  expression  to  what  is  learned,  that  the  coming 
unity  and  coming  perfection  can  be  reached.  Be  it  ours,  breth- 
ren, while  giving  God  thanks  for  what  He  has  revealed  and 
rejoicing  in  the  possession  of  his  great  salvation,  to  live  as  His 
children,  endued  by  His  Spirit,  walking  in  the  light  as  He  is  in 
the  light;  to  say  from  our  hearts,  "  Peace  be  with  all  them  that 
love  our  lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity  " — to  endeavor  "  to  keep 
the  unity  of  the  spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace,"  and  to  do  what 
in  us  lies  to  hasten  the  coming  of  that  "  unity  in  the  faith  and 
knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God"  which  will  bring  about  that 
visible  unity  for  which  He  so  earnestly  prayed. 


APPENDIX. 


171 


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INDEX. 

TOPICAL  INDEX  TO  THE  PAPEES  READ  AT  THE 
ALL-AMEEICAN    CONFERENCE 

Absolution,  Protestant  Doctrines  of,  Compared,  57 

Adaptation  of  the  Church's  Methods  to  the  Needs  of  the  Century, 

136,  150,  156 
Anglican  Communion,  Relation  of  its  Several  Branches,  8 
Attitude  towards  the  Church  of  Rome,  19,  24 
Attitude  towards  the  Protestant  Communions,  43,  53,  61,  72 
Autonomous  Churches  in  Heathen  Lands,  30 

Baptism,  Protestant  Doctrines  of.  Compared,  55 

Bene  Decessit,  10 

Bible  and  Higher  Criticism,  135 

Christian  Family,  Preservation  of,  107,  118,  123,  131 

Church,  Ours  an  American  Church,  51 

Church  and  the  Indian  Races,  93,  103 

Church  and  the  Negro  Race,  78,  87 

Church  and  the  Twentieth  Century,  150 

Churches,  Doctrines  of  the  Protestant  Churches  Compared,  54 

Closing  Service,  Sermon  at,  164 

Commercial  and  Political  Morality,  150,  156 

Dependent  Races  in  America,  78,  87,  93,  103 
Divorce  and  Unlawful  Marriage,  107,  118,  119,  134 

Family  and  Parental  Obligations,  123,  131 
Family  Prayers,  139 
Family,  Preservation  of,  107,  118,  134 
Foreign  Missions,  31 

Heathen  Lands,  Development  of  Autonomous  Churches  in,  30 

High  Ideals  in  the  Nation,  150,  156 

Higher  Criticism  and  the  Bible,  135 

Home  and  the  State  (see  also  Family),  131 

Indian  Missions,  Tables  on,  171 
Indian  Races  and  the  Church,  93,  103 
Indian  Schools,  105 

Lord's  Day  and  Public  Worship,  136,  142 

Lord's  Supper,  Protestant  Doctrines  of,  Compared,  56 

177 


INDEX. 


Marriage  and  Divorce,  107,  118,  119,  134 

Methodist  Church,  Points  of  Union  with  the  Anglican,  54 

Missions  in  Heathen  Lands,  31 

Morality,  Political  and  Commercial,  150,  156 

Negro  Pace  and  the  Church,  78,  87 

Negro  Pace,  Methods  of  Evangelization  among,  90 

Old  Catholics,  39 

Opening  Service,  Sermon  at,  1 

Ordination,  Protestant  Doctrines  of.  Compared,  58 

Parental  Obligations,  123,  131 

Points  of  Difference  between  Protestant  and  Anglican  Churches, 

61,  72 
Points   of   Union   between   Protestant   and   Anglican   Churches, 

42,  53 
Polish  Catholic  Church,  36 
Political  and  Commercial  Morality,  150,  156 
Prayers  in  the  Family,  139 

Presbyterian  Church,  Points  of  Union  with  Anglican,  53 
Present  Century  and  the  Church,  150 
Progress,  Unity,  System,  164 

Protestant  Communions,  Attitude  towards,  42,  53 
Public  Prayer,  Protestant  Doctrines  of.  Compared,  57 
Public  Worship  and  the  Lord's  Day,  136,  142 

Eelationship  between  the  Branches  of  the  Anglican  Communion, 

8,  13 
Eoman  Church,  Attitude  towards,  19,  24 

Sacraments,  Doctrines   of  Protestant   Churches   Compared  with 

Anglican,  54 
Sermon  at  Opening  Service,  1 
Sermon  at  Closing  Service,  164 
State  and  the  Home  (see  Family),  131 
Sunday  Schools  and  the  Church,  133,  160 
System,  Unity,  Progress,  164 

Tables  on  Indian  Missions,  171 

Twentieth  Century,  Adaptation  of  Church's  Methods  to,  136,  150. 
156  >       >        y 

Twentieth  Century  and  the  Church,  150 

Uniat  Churches  in  America,  36 

Unity,  1 

Unity,  System,  Progress,  164 

"Worship  and  the  Lord's  Day,  136,  142 


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